The Mumbai Autorickshaw men’s union club recently announced that they have incorporated a women’s security element for those who ride in shared autos on a daily basis. It has chosen to educate all drivers on how to protect women in the event of anyone reporting misbehaviour or being improperly touched by a male co-passenger.
The Union Leader, Shashank Rao, has instructed all auto drivers to take complaints made by women passengers seriously, when they call out misbehaviour by a fellow passenger. If the woman further wishes to pursue the case with the police, the auto driver can assist by dropping her to the nearest police station.
The campaign has been named ‘Touch Me Not’ and has already been launched on social media platforms and radio channels. The campaign aims to cover about 80,000 autos driven by 1.6 lakh drivers within the 100 shared routes in the city suburbs. The union plans to conduct a training session for the auto drivers to enhance this special feature and enable women to travel safely around the city.