PUNE: It’s a grainy minute-long video, and it shows BPO worker Shubhada Kodare‘s final moments in the parking lot of her office.
The 25-year-old is on her hands and knees while her attacker walks about with a cleaver. A pool of what appears to be blood has formed near the woman, and then, her face is pushed to the ground by the man with the knife. Kodare never gets up.
At least 20 people, the video shows, witnessed this terrible scene unfold on the premises of the call centre in Ramwadi, where both Kodare and her attacker worked.
Yet none of them moved to stop the attack, or offer Kodare any assistance. Instead, the clip shows people in the crowd — some of them who stood by with their hands on their hips — only grabbed the assailant after he tossed the cleaver.
The video left the city stunned on Thursday, when it surfaced online. “A classmate saw the video and shared it with me. How could people just watch this happen? This was a person being killed,” said Kritika S, a college student.
Police on Thursday, while confirming the clip was of Tuesday’s attack, added another gut-wrenching detail. In the video, the assailant is seen making a phone call moments after striking Kodare. Police now suspect he had used her phone and that Kodare was speaking to her father before she slumped to the ground.
It’s unclear if the assailant spoke to Kodare’s father.
“If those present had intervened en masse, this young woman would be alive today. Once again, we see a horrific manifestation of violence paired with what’s known as the ‘bystander effect‘, when people fail to act assuming someone else would,” said Professor Sadhana Natu, head of the psychology department at Pune’s Modern College.
“Conflict resolution through non-violent means is becoming rare in today’s market-driven society. We need to instill some positive negotiation skills, empathy, and pro-social behaviour in our personal and professional spheres,” she said.
Even former members of the police force weighed in. “Bystander apathy is a serious issue in India, especially in cities,’ said former Pune police commissioner Meeran Chadha Borwankar. “Our investigating officers are often appalled at the lack of help victims have received during critical moments. This apathy is one of the main reasons for poor conviction rates in criminal cases. We need to talk about this in our school, colleges and communities,” Borwankar said.
Reactions also came in from the state’s IT workers’ union, ‘Forum For IT Employees’.
“How did this person enter the company’s premises with a large knife? Organisations with 500+ employees should have bag-scanning machines and at least 1-2 armed security personnel,” said Pavanjeet Mane, president of the forum.
“And as an additional measure, our companies could prioritise mental health and well-being programmes for their employees, to prevent such violence,” Mane added.
Kodare was a resident of Balajinagar in Katraj. She succumbed to injuries late on Tuesday night at a private hospital in the city. Cops have arrested her colleague, 27-year-old Krishna Satyanarayan Kanojia of Shivajinagar, in connection with the crime. An investigation is on.
