NEWS: But you cannot rape the press!

So, we have yet another Rape Report, and this time, the purported felon is a designer fellow by the name of Anand Jon. He is a man Newsweek magazine had declared one had to "watch out for" in 2007. Sure. Counting as of today, Jon has pleaded not guilty to 13 of 46 counts - involving 18 victims, between the ages of 14 and 27 - of sexual misconduct towards women... and kids.

I don't know what is going to happen to Jon: He is out on bail and there are allegations that some of the charges might be cases of disgruntled, aspiring models getting back at him. However, what I do know; is that I am sick of reading Rape Report after Rape Report. And it really doesn't matter if it's a Jon, 'Jahnny', Janardhan and whether it's New York or New Delhi. Despite being an almost-30, tax-paying and apparently independent citizen living in the capital city of a country that is supposedly democratic and supposedly has a legal and judiciary system too... I don't know where to look, run, ask for help, or hide.

When I had read about the girl raped at knifepoint behind a medical college in broad daylight, I decided never to walk alone in any alleyway and definitely not behind medical colleges. Then I read that a Swiss diplomat had been raped inside her own car in the Siri Fort auditorium parking lot. It was scary because two hours before she had been raped, I had left the same auditorium after watching two films. I was alone. I have never been to Siri Fort since.

For those living alone, food is either self-prepared, care-of-fast-food or courtesy the area dhaba. But since the day I read about the girl picked up near a dhaba by men in a car; I'd rather go hungry or have instant noodles every night. So perhaps I can avoid the Mobile Rapist -men in cars who kidnap women and rape them - by not going to a dhaba. But how do I avoid traveling alone? Autorickshaws are the most common mode of transportation - buses mean crotches pressing into your bottom - for many a car-less single woman in the city. And yet, autos are open from both sides... and the Mobile Rapists have been known to pull out women from autos. I come to Noida everyday, in an auto. The other day a dead body of a woman was found in her car, on the Expressway.

The other day at a red light, a motorcycle stopped next to my auto and the man riding it, winks and blows me a kiss. It was a policeman in civilian clothes; his number plate said Delhi Police. I got out and asked him what did he think he was doing and if he had ANY shame being a policeman and all... He got off the bike, stood his full height - about five feet eight, I am five feet small - and said, "Stay quiet, as a woman you should know when to speak. And do what you have to do about it, let me see." Before I could call 100, he zooms off, threatening to BEAT me if I opened my mouth. Right.

I narrated my angst to Mishraji, my rather apathetic, water-stealing, neighbour. He said, "Madam, you are getting unnecessarily bothered, you are not model, so you will not get raped; and that apart, you have press card, just flash it and tell them they cannot rape the press." And they will stop?