The question we asked: Do you as a woman/the parent of a young girl feel unsafe in Calcutta today? Your answers started landing in our inbox from 7.59am.

I do not dare print my name with this letter because if I am assaulted, I can’t even rely on the police
I had never thought that I would write a letter like this. Once upon a time, Calcutta used to be one of the safest cities in the country. But now, just the thought of walking alone in a lane fills me with fear. I try my best to avoid such a situation.

How I dress or whether I smoke should not bother anyone but it does. 

The chief minister must understand that the need for women’s safety is more important than her failed attempt at transforming Calcutta into London. 

I do not dare print my name with this letter because if I am assaulted, I can’t even rely on the police. My exams are coming up and I cannot afford to sit at home in fear.
— Name withheld

I hope Calcuttans will not let this pass
After reading about the assault on the Presidency University student and her friend, it seems to me that I am living in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, where women cannot step outside their homes without being escorted by a man. I used to be proud that I am living in a democratic country where there is no restriction on a woman’s movement. But this incident has dented my pride. I hope Calcuttans will not let this pass.
— Mita Dey, 
Ananda Palit Road

I neither feel safe nor free in this city 
I neither feel safe nor free in this city. Actually, ‘I feel unsafe’ is an understatement. It is 2016 but I still cannot wear a short skirt or smoke a cigarette without people giving me the stare. I am not free because I cannot live my life the way I want to. When women are raped and dumped on the road, why don’t these people feel that they should not allow “such indecencies” in their “respectable colony”. 
— Chandrabali Das, Baguiati

I no longer enjoy the freedom to wear what I want
I am married and my life has changed since I moved to Calcutta two years ago. I no longer enjoy the freedom to move as I please or wear what I want. I feel unsafe here because I have realised that not only the men in Calcutta but also the women are narrow-minded. 
—Name withheld

I often feel unsafe in Calcutta today 
As a woman, I often feel unsafe in Calcutta today, not only while returning home alone late in the evening but also in broad daylight. While the civilised world talks about women’s liberation and empowerment, there are a few who still think that wearing a short dress is an invitation for molestation and rape.

Whenever I step out in a skirt or a knee-length dress, people stare, often in a way that suggests that I have done something terrible. When a woman smokes on the road, men turn around to check her out. 

These people make me feel unsafe and sad about the direction in which we are heading. And these people feel no regret for what they do.
—Amrita Guha, Gokhale Memorial Girls’ College

Luckily my daughters are pursuing their dreams outside Calcutta
All rational Calcuttans should condemn the Presidency student’s harassment. She is an adult and hence free to decide what she wants to wear or whether she wants to smoke or not. The Trinamul thugs must have no say in the matter.

The younger Ganguly told the girl and her friend that Pallisree was “not Park Street or Jadavpur University” and hence smoking and wearing shorts was not allowed there. As an active Trinamul member, he should remember that his supreme leader has promised to turn Calcutta into London. In that case Calcutta’s neighbourhoods would become like Oxford Street, Regent Street, Baker Street and Hyde Park, where women and men dress as they please and do what they want. Would the Ganguly family leave the city then? I am surprised even the matriarch of the family did not support the girl! 

Luckily my daughters are grown up and pursuing their dreams outside Calcutta. If any of them were living with me, I would have advised her to leave the city immediately.
—Kalyan Ghosh, Baishnabghata Patuli Township

Do we have to live a life dictated by the ruling party? 
In a democratic country, all of us have the liberty to choose our lifestyle, rules, speech and expression. No man has the right to dictate what a woman is going to wear. Do we, the women, have to live a life dictated by the ruling party? No way. Men like the assaulters should be taught a lesson in anti-moral policing.
— Sukanya Seal, Lady Brabourne College

Who are we to impose things on her?
I am writing this as the brother of a young woman and a Calcuttan. I shudder to think that any day I may have to face the same harassment and trauma that the male friend of the Presidency student faced. 

No one gives a second thought after seeing a man in shorts smoking on the streets. Men, bare-bodied or wearing a vest are a common sight in Calcutta. Nobody ever feels the urge to play moral police, preaching decency, character, values and upbringing to them. Replace the man with a woman and everything changes. 

We’ll stare at a woman smoking wearing shorts and judge her and everything about her life without thinking once that we are infringing on her fundamental rights. Who are we to decide for her and impose things on her? What sadistic pleasure do men get by denying basic rights to women and limiting their activities? 

People still harass and abuse women under the garb of moral policing. They are the ones who make this city unsafe. 
— Anamitra Bhaduri