12 April,2009 07:32 AM IST | | Ketan Ranga
Alarmed by an increase in cases of working women being targeted during late night hours on their way home, a Mumbai based women cabbie service provider is arming their female cabbies with chilly pepper spray and lathis for defense.
The Worli-based Priyadarshani Ladies Taxi Service has bought five sprays and seven lathis to begin with and will increase this number gradually.
Purchase manager Nilesh Malavade confirmed the threat female cabbies face, and said, "Our female cabbies go out of Mumbai and do late night driving. This is unsafe, so we armed them with sprays and lathis as a safety measure."u00a0
There are 29 female taxi drivers in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. They undergo a three-and-a-half month training which includes driving lessons, judo, karate and yoga for better concentration and stress relief. Now add pepper sprays and lathis to the mix. They will be trained to use the latter.
To be used on the face, the pepper spray puts the attacker out of action for at least 30 minutes, leaving the victim with enough time to get help. The spray can be used six to eight times.
Rahul Khanapurkar, owner of the Defensive enterprises, who manufactures the spray in Thane, supplies to Priyadarshini Ladies Taxi Service. Said Khanapurkar, "I got the idea from the west, as there have been lots of attacks on women in India, especially working women. I started making the spray last year."
"My major buyers are working women, girls, their boyfriends and husbands. Senior citizens have been buying it too," he added.
