Afia Ambreen
A German tourist has claimed two men of taking her captive and raping her in southern India just weeks after the rape and murder of an Irish woman in Goa. It comes barely three weeks after a 28-year-old Irish woman was raped and murdered in the popular tourist state of Goa. Danielle McLaughlin’s naked body was discovered in a field near a beach on March 14, with injuries all over her body. Police have arrested a local man for her rape and murder. Many Western countries warn visitors about the risk of such attacks in India, where levels of sexual violence are relatively high. A 35-year-old Japanese tourist was raped in southern India last December and in 2014, a Danish woman was gang-raped in New Delhi after she became lost and asked for directions to her hotel. Five men were sentenced to life imprisonment last June over that attack.
For those who don’t remember, in December 2012, Nirbhaya was beaten with iron rods, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus while she was travelling with her boyfriend. As a result of an international outrage over her assault and subsequent death, new laws and new fast-track courts were promised. More women are now willing to report rape cases. But even two years after Nirbhaya, her father claims that the promises of reform were unmet, and that justice in India has failed his daughter and women like her. Indeed, Amnesty International reports that authorities have not effectively implemented new laws on crimes against women. The majority of rape cases still go unreported. In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s India, the problem, instead of abating, has become worse.
As per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released in August 2016, over 34,600 cases of rape have been reported across the country last year with Madhya Pradesh and Delhi topping the infamous list of states and union territories respectively. A total of 34,651 rape cases were reported in India in 2015. Among these, in 33,098 cases the offenders were known to the victims. The rape victims were among the age group of below six years to over 60 years. Madhya Pradesh has reported 4,391 rape cases, a highest among the states. Whereas, the national capital has reported 2,199 such cases-highest among the union territories. Nearly 3.27 lakh cases of crimes against women were reported across the country. Of these over 1.3 lakh were sexual offences-1.2 lakh in states and 9,445 in union territories. The sexual offences cases included rape, attempt to commit rape, assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty and insult to modesty of women. Among the rape cases, Maharashtra reported 4,144 such incidents. A total of 3,644 and 3,025 rapes were reported in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, the data said. As many as 2,251 rape cases were reported in Odisha, Assam (1,733), Chhattisgarh (1,560), 1,256 in Kerala, West Bengal registered 1,129, 1,070 in Haryana and 1,041 in Bihar, it said.
In India a women is reportedly raped every 15 minutes. Multiply that by 24×7, 365 days a year. And keep in mind the majority of rape cases still go unreported. The statistics on crime against women is even worse: Every 2 minutes, a women in India is a victim of a crime. This ongoing issue with violence against women raises the real and serious question of whether India is truly ready for a seat on the global table. A simple answer points to the Indian caste system. There is an expression in India that “bringing up a daughter is like watering a neighbor’s plant.” India places women lower than men. There is a total and complete disrespect for women in Indian religious scriptures. At this moment in its long tumultuous history, India is seeing a renaissance of a narrowly defined, ultranationalist, militant Hindutva ideology. Modi is the poster child of this ideology. This ideology places a lot of emphasis on India’s most beloved epics and historical stories. Hence, for the women in India, the world needs to hold Modi responsible. In a society where the national narrative conditions people to think that rape has no consequences; where violence has been unleashed by an imbalanced sex ratio; and where women have little or no cultural respect, 37,000 reported rapes per year is not shocking, or even surprising. It is just par for the course. This oppressive atrocity against women in India will get worse, not better. Things will not get better unless there is an international outcry against Modi and his right-wing goons.
