We all know by now what happened that awful night in December to an innocent young woman with her promising future ahead. It was disgusting, it was appalling it was barbaric. I cried reading the detail of what those monsters did. India and the world was horrified. People took to the streets demanding the death penalty, praying it would never happen again.
But it has. In the week after the attack, 2 young girls aged 10 & 14 were gang raped in Bihar, one of them killed. A girl was gang raped on bus near Amritsar, another girl was gang raped and killed in Delhi. A 6 year old was raped in Pune. A middle aged lady was gang raped in a moving car. These are just the cases i know off the top of my head. If you follow VAW (violence against women) on twitter you will see hundreds more cases.
So why isn't the media widely reporting these cases? I think its a class/caste issue. As Chetan Bhagat recently pointed out, Jyoti Singh Pandey was one of us. She was middle class and educated, she was just a normal girl on a night out at the cinema with her friend. I would not be at all shocked if these other women were the kind of women india ignores, you know, our maids, the women selling fruit at the market, the ladies who stay at home in villages and slums. The huge majority of India that India likes to pretend isn't there.
I've been told rape is so common in poorer or more volatile states, like Bihar and kashmir respectively that its just accepted. The police and army don't stop it because allegedly they're the ones committing the crimes in a lot of cases. Only the other day i had to submit some documents at the police station at my fiancé was horrified 2 women were sent to accompany me from my office, I asked why, he said its not safe for women to be alone in a police station!
Apparently a woman is raped every 22 minutes in Delhi. Delhi is a big place, the population is 4 times greater than that of New Zealand, but still, thats a horrible statistic. And even more horrible is the amount of unreported rapes. How many women/girls stay silent, too scared or ashamed to speak out? Most rape victims know their attacker making it harder for them to report the rape. Then there is the conviction rate, i heard out of 635 cases that actually made it to court last year, there was ONE conviction. So is it worth going through all the trauma of a court case for that slim chance of a conviction? I can see why women would want to stay silent.
Its not just rape thats the issue here, its attitudes to women in general. "Eve teasing" is extremly common, and its dumbed down with that stupid name, when i got groped in a lift by a cleaner at work i didnt think eve teasing was an appropriate term. When a man shoved his hand up my friends skirt in goa, we didnt shrug it off as eve teasing. These acts need to be taken more seriously but its not just india thats the issue, getting your bum pinched on a night out in the uk isn't exactly uncommon is it?
I worked in Delhi for almost 3 years and i loved the city, a few people have said to me in light of recent events that they bet im glad im not there anymore... Well no, I kind of wish i was there to see how quickly things change. I've read street lighting is improving, buses with blacked out windows are banned, there are more police checks... This all sounds like steps in the right direction and i just hope attitudes change too.
It infuriates me that the attitude is to keep women away from men, like its our fault a few of them behave like animals! Women's only metro cabs, auto rickshaws and taxis are not the answer. While they present a short term solution in making us feel safer, we shouldn't have to be kept away from men! After the gang rape in Gurgaon 18 months ago, curfews were introduced for female workers... Again, why stop us earning an honest living? I suppose thats easier than dealing with the issue at hand and locking up the men who commit these horrible crimes.
Laws also need changing and the conviction rate seriously needs looking at. Stating the obvious i know, but theres even laws around wearing a helmet on a bike that don't apply to sikhs (because of their turbans) and women (because???? We're not that important?).
Most of my friends in India are men, i'm marrying an indian man so i can say hand on heart that the issues are down to a few men, not all. My fiancé is so respectful to women, i have never met a man who is so loving and respectful to his mother and sisters. His friends all treat me as an equal. It appals and angers them when men stare at me, i just hope the rest of india can follow suit and one day, women's only metro cars will be a thing of the past.
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