Deepa* was in bed on January 30 when, at 2 am, she heard a loud banging at the front door of her home in Bengaluru. Someone was trying to force their way into her home.
“I was sleeping and it was 2.06 am. Someone was banging at my door, and ringing the bell,” Deepa tells TNM. Deepa, who lives alone, immediately dialled 100. The closest police station, the Puttenahalli police station, is located five minutes away from her home. However, the police did not come till 2.30 am, and till then, the banging and ringing continued.
“My main door has a window next to it. The man opened that window and put his hand inside. He tried very hard to open the door from inside, for half an hour, and at the same time, he was saying something. I was shivering in fear, I could only hear him saying 'Madam, madam’,” Deepa narrates.
“There is a switchboard inside between the door and the window, and while trying to open the door he accidentally switched on the light in the main hall. Till a few minutes before the police came, he was trying to scare me, switching the light on and off constantly. He kept ringing the bell too,” Deepa shares.
Deepa heard the police arrive at 2.30 am, but the alleged intruder was alerted and fled the spot.
“I believe he was hurt and he tried to maybe climb my building from somewhere else. There were blood-stains on the stairs as well as my windowpane,” Deepa adds.
She says the police checked the perimeter and the terrace, but did not find him.
“They did not go to the buildings nearby or stay there for the night or give me any sort of protection. They gave me a number, and said if something happens, give us a call. I asked them, ‘should I wait for this to repeat? That's all they said and they went. They did not care to check everywhere,” Deepa says.
Later, the police left and Deepa, evidently shaken, tried her best to go back to sleep, trying to dismiss the incident as a thief trying to commit a petty crime. However, at around 7 am, while getting ready for work, she noticed something on the floor near her fridge.
“I saw a packet of condoms lying near my fridge. I am very sure it was him who had thrown the packet. I picked up the packet and when I saw what it was, I immediately threw it back where I had found it. I called the police, who came around 9.30-10 am. And their attitude was very casual. They said okay, just throw it,” Deepa says.
She adds that the police did not take the packet with them, but instead kicked it out of her house and asked her to come to the police station to file a written complaint. Deepa then got in touch with the building caretaker, who also works as a broker, and retrieved the CCTV footage.
‘He did something similar on first floor’
“The CCTV footage we got was from the ground floor and unfortunately, the CCTV on my floor had to be given for some configuration and hence was not there. On the first floor, you can see him clearly, he is a tall, fair, lean man, whom I have never seen before. I saw the video 50-60 times but I could not recall if I had seen him somewhere,” she says.
In the CCTV, Deepa says she could see him opening the door of an apartment on the first floor as well.
“On the first floor, he did something similar, he opened the window, it is a sliding window, he peeked inside and then closed the window,” Deepa says.
‘Police refused to file FIR’
When Deepa reached the police station, the police allegedly asked her to leave out the details about the condom packet from her complaint. But she added it in her complaint and also submitted the video footage to the police. However, they did not file an FIR.
“I told the sub-inspector about the events that happened the previous night. But he refused to register an FIR, saying that we can't because the guy is unknown. Next day I received an acknowledgement of three lines, that someone on (January) 30th banged the door, opened the window, and that ‘we want to tell the complainant not to open the doors and windows for any unknown person.’ They did not mention the video, the timing nor the condom packet,” Deepa says.
Deepa went to the police station twice to question why important details were not acknowledged and why the police did not file an FIR. Deepa also approached her building caretaker asking that security be deployed, but the caretaker convinced her that the building is safe and that nothing will happen if they lock the front gate. After haggling with both the owners and the police, Deepa, who has been living at the apartment for three years, is now looking for a new home.
On Sunday, after getting no assurance from the police, Deepa reached out to activist Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj on Twitter to narrate her ordeal.
This is extremely irresponsible @BlrCityPolice A man tries to break open a womans house at night, throws condom packet inside & you're asking her to forget about it rather than acting on it? She's in fear. Plz Help
— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) February 5, 2020
@Copsview @ips_patil @D_Roopa_IPS @BlrCityPolice @DCPWestBCP pic.twitter.com/QxWhzXmnJe
Cops say investigation underway
TNM contacted Puttenahalli police station and an official there stated that though they have not registered an FIR, they have received the woman’s complaint and they are investigating. The official also stated that he was not authorised to give more information.
*Name changed