[thoma]

If the doll is not available here, how about heavily tinting the glass? Just would like to know if the car in question was tinted. Why I am asking is to know whether you were targeted.

[Irish]

Originally Posted by thoma

If the doll is not available here, how about heavily tinting the glass? Just would like to know if the car in question was tinted. Why I am asking is to know whether you were targeted.

Delhi Traffic Police is very strict on tinted glasses. As per the MV Act, they allow 50% visibility on sides and 70% visibility windscreens (front & back). So I don't think that heavily tinting the glasses will be an option for anyone under such circumstances.

Cheers!
Irish

[Deeps]

A very scary incident. I shuddered just reading it. But as others have said the best thing is that you didn't suffer any physical harm. Phones can be bought again and car can be repaired.

Wish you all the best to get over the incident as soon as you can and move on. Take care.

PS: Have posted this link on Delhi Traffic Police's FB wall. Lets see if Mr. Garg responds.

[mayankk]

That was enormously lousy!!
I do hope the next person they try to do this to has a gun in his/her car.

Something similar happened to a girl in my college quite a while back.
Guy tried to put his arm in and grab her clutch from the passenger seat.
The window was only open about a quarter way.
She grabbed a pen she kept for receipts in the car and jabbed away to glory.

Our hero, she was, after that.

Post that she used to keep a flick knife(toy size thing, not the full rambo).
But, unsurprisingly, she was never caught in such a situation again.
I suppose her wariness post that incident protected her.

but better to have and not want, rather want and not have.

[MAS]

Absolutely shocked at the incident and more shocked that it happened to you . I really could not believe my eyes when i saw the author of the thread.

- You lock the doors as soon as you sit inside the car. I do the same, but Thank God for your habit and curse Ford for not giving an auto-lock mechanism for such an expensive car.
- You held your cool even though you were nervous. Imagine what would have happened if you had opened the window the whole way down.
- The loss of a phone means loss of a lot of information and contacts. Consider it as a "Sadkha" and move on

What you could do to avoid such incidents in future (God Forbid).
- Carry with you one or two cans of pepper spray. Forget whether It will give you the confidence to get out of any sticky situations
- See if you could get a Taser Gun (Not sure if it is legal in India)
- I feel that the goons who attacked you have been watching you for a some time. It is advisable NOT to follow any type of routine to get back home. Change the time of your return, change the routes that you follow and keep a watch if you waiting in a signal.

At the end, i am happy that you are fine and things will be back to normal soon.

[himanshu_2580]

Hi Sugeeta,

Something very similar happened to me in Mumbai. So this dosen't happen only with ladies. The only part that i missed was the bus part. Lost my Iphone this way. Happened at a traffic junction where there was huge traffic and cars were only moving couple of inches every 5 minutes.

I filed an FIR right away, but i knew tracing phone was almost impossible. I did it to make sure that if the phone was used for some illigal activity, i could prove that i had lost it.

The police further confirmed my belief that there was little chance of phone being traced. They told me that this was a gang operating in Mumbai and these people normally open the phone up and sell the parts indvidually. This was they not only get more money but also reduce the risk of phone getting traced.

Sorry for your loss, but to be honest, there is very little you can do the first time. When it happenened with me, my first thought was what happened to that guy and second was damage to my car (considering that were banging really hard)....At that moment, the thought of the phone on passenger seat didn't even occur to me...Since that incident i have started taking precautions, in terms of not keeping anything valuable on the passenger side. I only keep it in the space below my music palyer in the central console (that would be still harder to reach without getting in..

Regards,
Himanshu

[ampere]

Another item I have seen in some cars is the instant we stop the engine,
the car unlocks. A dangerous thing in traffic. (I see this in I10).

Any ways to avoid this?

[jeeva]

Originally Posted by thoma

If the doll is not available here, how about heavily tinting the glass? Just would like to know if the car in question was tinted. Why I am asking is to know whether you were targeted.

I don't think tinted glass is allowed in Delhi and they say its for security reasons!
Crimes are increasing day by day in this country. Wonder what's in store for the next generation.

[fuel_addict]

Very scary incident. Reading it alone sent shivers down my spine. This shouldn't happen to anyone, anywhere. Glad that you were safe at the end of the ordeal. Loss of the cell phone is unfortunate. It is perfectly normal for one to panic in situations like these when you have people all around you like hungry wolves. Its good that you did not unlock the car. Delhi has been notorious for being unsafe and this incident further re-inforces that fact. I hope you recover fast from this shocker of an experience.

[vkochar]

This happens everywhere nowadays and specially in bumper to bumper traffic as no one leaves the car in slow moving traffic as they know that cars behind are impatient and start honking. If you create a scene chances of the guys getting nabbed is very low because again the traffic pile up is huge so even a cop will tell you to take the car to the side but by then the damage is already done.

Women are easy targets as they get frightened, men may harm them or run after them or hit them or slam the door against them - but women will be too shocked.

These incidents are only going to grow sadly because the number of women drivers - in flashy cars and having expensive phones, laptops, purses are growing everyday. Not everyone has a driver so the pile ups of traffic jams in delhi are a safe haven for these goons.

I'd suggest carry a pepper spray, lock the car always and the windows and try to be a little more attentive while driving - I know you will from now on BUT I hope all ladies reading this are also.

It's a very good thread and I am going to share it on Facebook so all the women friends I have can read this and gain something out of it.

PS - the note should have a tracker, get it tracked. And please with someone go to the nearest cop booth and inform them. You will be surprised how quickly they will act.

[noopster]

Shocking and very unfortunate that you lost the Note, Sugeeta. From what I remember of Delhi, New Friends Colony is a respectable residential area. You MUST go to the cops with this, for the simple reason tat it seems to be an organised racket. They clearly targeted you, a woman professional driving a car that stands out from the crowd. They had their modus operandi down tight, which means they have probably pulled it before. If you report it, chances are someone else may be spared of this ordeal.

Having said that, I can't begin to imagine how it must have felt to have 5 angry men banging away at your doors and windows. May I suggest you try altering your routine a bit and if possible car pool with someone at the office for a few days? It's a sad fact that women in this country are perceived as easy targets but we need to do what we can to protect ourselves. Like many have said already, you acted perectly approporiately given the provocation.

[mandheers]

Sorry about the incident Sugeeta, and it is rather disturbing.

This is not just a lone woman who could fall prey, the male counterparts tend to alight their vehicles courtesy a different set of hormones and risk further damage.

You did everything right, from the 2 inches on the window to rolling it up and saving your handbag; and the doors being locked saved you a lot, really.

I must say that's really commendable presence of mind, even with you noticing additional guys in your rear-view and the Wagon-R chap gesticulating, he should've helped more.

All said, you only felt panicked but from what I read- you did not; it was only an alien circumstance and you were not prepared for it.

Forget the phone, you are not harmed and that is a relief in such situations.

The scum that plans such acts is prepared for the worst and has more or less effected this at various signals/locations.

My only advice would be- get a handgun. Those pepper sprays are for kids trying to get your mobile number, not thugs who rob you of your mobile.

Please do update if you pursue and the Delhi Police spring into action. Do report the bus registration if you recollect at all. All the very best.

There have been stray incidents in Mumbai, where kids; street urchins; have brandished razors (ustura) and taken away mobiles and wallets from car dashboards or taxis. Taxi drivers also tell of such miscreants, around the Mahim area.

In another incident two guys got into a commuter's rear seat and robbed him, this was around the Milan Subway signal.

I can only imagine the fate of things for drivers; men or women; who drive without air conditioning on such stretches.

[AltoHoncho]

Delhi has always been a nightmare for lone women commuters, and sadly its the capital city. Anyways, coming back to the incident, its unfortunate that it happened to you. I had heard similar stories recently on my trip to delhi.

In mumbai too, such innovative schools of thoughts run alongside Sion station to Worli exit road. There, the folks point towards the front grill of your car where the radiator is and start yelling that there are sparks coming out of it, as soon as one gets down from the vehicle their aides steal stuff from the vehicle and disappear.
It happened to me on my last trip. thankfully all they could steal was a small cushion I use for my long drives.

[somubj]

Fight back ... you have the IMEI number on the box and you should file an FIR specifying the number. Since its a note, it will be sold as such and not in parts and can definitely be traced down.

You should notify samsung customer service as well, hoping that it might turn up some day to any samsung repair center.

Such incidents have become very common these days; People claiming that you have hit them, etc, throwing stuff on the windshield .. all with the same intention that you will open the window glass or step out of the car which will give them an opportunity to steal your belongings.

Be alert and cautious at traffic signals and in slow moving traffic, esp while driving at night.
Never stop the car/open window/step out. Drive on and stop at a police station or at some place where you see a cop standing.
Keep the doors locked. some cars automatically unlock the doors when you turn the ignition off, close the doors manually immediately.

I was stopped in a similar incident in Noida and as an instinct even i opened the car window but when the guy tried to put his hand in and open the car door, i closed the window back drove for couple of meters with his hand still stuck and then let go of him. Then drove ahead.

[esteem_lover]

Pathetic state of affairs. This could have happened to anyone. The thing is most of us are not trained/prepared for a situation like this, in fact we are always wary of it and don't want it to happen to us. I hate when anyone touches my car while I wait in the signal. But certainly you have showed some reasonable presence of mind which is very very commendable.

Also, it seems like the begging profession is not yielding as much as it used to before which is why they have started these kind of tricks.

Originally Posted by ampere

Another item I have seen in some cars is the instant we stop the engine,
the car unlocks. A dangerous thing in traffic. (I see this in I10).

Any ways to avoid this?

Do not switch off in this kind of a situation, but in normal circumstances, after you switch off, turn the ignition back on again without cranking or just push down the driver side door lock and that would lock all the doors.