Celebrated actress Sonali Bendre recalls her experience of travelling in Mumbai local trains. She reminisces about her college days and how her mother used to provide strict instructions for her to follow during her commute. Travelling in the ladies compartment and making sure not to travel alone after dark are some of the many things that women keep in mind while commuting on a day-to-day basis.
As women across all age groups have been known to keep a mental note of safety precautions they must take, *Sonali introduced “Khaki Mein Sakhi”, an initiative by Mumbai Railway Police and coto, a social community platform for women to ensure their safety.* The initiative encourages women in Mumbai to consider railway police women personnels as their ‘Sakhi’ and express their safety concerns/inappropriate experiences they face while commuting by local trains.
The coto community, ‘Khaki Mein Sakhi’ will serve as an online platform for women’s voices to be heard and address various issues such as fear of travelling at odd hours of the day, sexual harassment, and hesitancy of commuting via ‘general’ compartment of the train amongst others.
