Respecting women crucial for their safety

BENGALURU: Respecting women is crucial to ensuring their safety, prominent German public figure and activist Helin Evrim Sommer said at a discussion here on Friday.

Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao and other German delegates, including some members of Parliament, were part of the talk, ‘Building Safe Cities with Special Focus on Women’s Safety’.

“In Germany, we have 353 centres to shelter women subjected to cruelty. We have 70 special centres that deal with women-related issues. When a woman develops differences with in-laws or faces harassment from her husband, she can stay alone for a period of 15 days, where she can decide on the future course of action,” said Sommer, whose Twitter handle describes her as a member of the Bundestag (German Parliament).

“We practise gender equality by respecting women.” She told TOI that crime against women was a universal problem. On what should be done to ensure their safety, she said: “It is very difficult to answer. But yes, respecting women and addressing them with due diligence will yield better results.”

On death penalty in serious cases, Sommer said: “I feel there are other ways to punish a person.” George Kippels, also a member of German Parliament, said individual freedom and security were the biggest challenges faced by police. “When public and police share a healthy relationship, police will use less force,” he said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/respecting-women-crucial-for-their-safety-german-mp/articleshow/72410194.cms