The story that caught my eye was of the woman who was gang-raped, then set alight with kerosene after recognising one of her attackers. She was able to give a death-bed statement, but this was hidden by the police until local family and radio stations kicked up a fuss about it (allegedly). Further reading of the article.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13835838 went on do describe other horrendous attacks on women. What the hell is going on? I was raised to protect and to help women and girls, particularly if in distress. What are the authorities doing trying to hide such reports, it's absolutely disgusting. I know, India's a big place with a huge population and bad things happen, but I thought India wanted to become civillised, to join the first world. I thought in India they respected their womenfolk. Maybe I was wrong.
India is truly one messed of place! In many ways, it doesn't even qualify as a third-rate country - by a long shot.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Firstly there are sick people in every country and religion and ethnicity. Jack the ripper, manson, the bodies in the barrels murders. Secondly the cops may have been investigating still in order to gather more evidence or to identify the others Lastly even if the cops wernt doing there best that doesn't make the whole country to blame, more likly a couple of lazy cops who couldn't be bothered
Bothers me...although it's the response of the police that bothers me as much or more. This occurred in '06 though...maybe it's the province's police: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6119928.stm
Here's the deal. The fact that one of the most religious countries in the world has all these problems (utter disregard for women, corruption, honor killings - to name a few), reflects the horrific and completely selfish outlook of the populus (also that religion fails to give us morality, but I won't go there). These incidences are so commonplace now that no one gives a rat's behind anymore. How many will you support? Also, we only get to know those which get the to the media. Police force becomes a failure if all they want to do is earn some money and get home early. Very few want to really serve the nation let alone protect civilians. Rape is only a thimble of the actual dark and hideously ugly underbelly of the culture superpower India projects itself to be. Good in parts but mostly horrible.
I don't know about that, perhaps. Given the size of population compared to other sex-destinations like Cambodia, Thailand etc. Life seems to sell pretty cheap out there. If this had happened in London or New York it would be the top of the news, sensationalised no doubt. I've written enough sensational headlines to realise their value, but over there in India I don't know if this even caused much more than a ripple. It never ceases to amaze me how people manage to sink ever further into grotesquesness, it's very sad.
American's do this too. Heck, American's will even do it in other countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_killings The problem is not unique to India.
Well, in our home country, the men usually only gang-rape. Well, maybe they murder too. They just don't kill them with fire...
Unfortunately rapes happen all the time all over the world. How is it that we happen to hear about these particular rapes? Partly because sexually repressed Indians are more Interested in rape than some other people, partly because the British and the West unconsciously want to feel superior to the brown people and are using western feminism's achievements to feel superior and partly because the rapes are being used in BJP vs BSP Indian political Drama. I suspect that Indian rape more than the statistics show and I suspect that the crime rate in India will increase as India becomes more modern and anonymous. Anonymousness is on of the reasons that the USA has such a high crime rate. While the BBC might think their audience will enjoy stories about uncivilized Indians who are barbaric to women the BBC does not mention that officially (old data) there are 10 times more rapes per capita in the UK than in India. Of course girls can't get date raped if they are not allowed to date. Further below I look at the sources for the BBC story. There is a political aspect in the type of reporting in the Indian media that the BBC likely got their story from. I used Ultra's (the OP's) link to find context for the BBC story that the OP linked to. I think the BJP is India's version of the American Republican party because I think it has a similar coalition of traditionalism, patriotism, religious (in this case Hinduism) fundamentalism, fear and dislike of minorities the poor and foreign rivals (Pakistan), law and order, and class war by the wealthier and those who identify with the wealthier against the poorer. Since the Caste system and the right of high caste to abuse and perhaps even rape lower caste people is part of traditionalism the BJP would be the party that is most resistant to reformers attempts to destroy the caste system. Uttar Pradesh is a state known for the most intense Hindu nationalism and the most entrenched caste system. The BJP type people had been blamed in the past for allowing the wealthy, the high caste and the police to abuse and rape the low caste, the Musliim Christian or Buddhist and the poor. Now the BJP supporters are saying look at how under the BSP control the police don't even protect law and order andthe low caste get raped. See you low caste were better of letting the BJP govern than having government by the BSP that was formed to protect the poor and low caste from high caste and wealthy corruption. These rape stories are part of the BJP's attempt to accuse the BSP of being a dishonest failure. Perhaps even some of the rapes may be in part motivated by higher caste, wealthy and police resentments at the attempt by the weak to end their privileges. I don't really believe the standard western psychological argument that rape is about power and not about sex. Sure power may often play a role but if a man gets an erection then sex was part of the rape. Men generally behave and don't force themselves on women but if you give men any excuse to rape then watch out because sex drive is quite a force. Below from http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_rap_percap-crime-rapes-per-capita Below from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayawati
I'd take those stats with a grain of salt, particularly in more disadvantaged countries and in those in which it's essentially illegal to be sexually assaulted.
If a woman's highly likely to suffer serious social consequences for reporting, she probably won't report. Would a woman in India who publicly admitted to being raped still be considered marriageable? Or would she be "damaged goods," the way she would have been in the US in, say the 1940's-1950's?
Good post nirakar. In India like anywhere else, rape is underreported, but it is still lower than many western nations because of the structure of the society. Women live in a generally protected environment and exploitation is higher at either extreme of society, dalit women and career women facing greater exposure to occasions where they can be victimised. Most middle class women do not travel by themselves but en famille and as you said, are not likely to date, go out unescorted to places frequented by predators or be ambushed by strangers. Still, the stats for rape by a known person are probably the same In UP - the heartland of Hindutva - it is indeed very much a caste issue and you've already given the information on it. if you google dalit+rape+Uttar Pradesh you will see some horrific stories
Given that "stranger rape" is only a very small percentage of rapes, this reasoning looks dubious to me. Most rapes are perpetrated by people known to the victim - friends, co-workers, even family. Avoiding dark alleys where unknown predators will leap out and rape lone women doesn't actually do much to reduce your odds of being raped. "Occasions where they can be victimized" should properly refer to instances wherein women are deprived of social status and/or agency. It has almost nothing to do with walking alone through seedy areas at night or whatever. It has everything to do with regarding women as property, valuing their word below that of a man, etc. The premise that patriarchal restrictions on women are necessary to "protect their honor" is a delusion cultivated to reinforce patriarchy - not least by making said women subject to exactly the groups most likely to rape them. And since those are the lion's share of rapes - even in the immoral West where women go on dates and walk alone through seedy parts of town at night in revealing clothing - the overall stats for rape are probably the same.
True. But only a small percentage of women live alone - most Indians have large families and live together so being raped by family or friends or co-workers is restricted simply by having 5-10 other people present. Plus we still have the system of door to door sales, for example, we get our water, bread, milk, paper, garbage, groceries, medicines, etc delivered on a daily basis - and we have the same people or their families doing it for the last four decades - and it is quite common to leave the door unlocked and open during the day, which means there is a constant traffic of people coming in and going out It is really hard to be alone in India.
Living alone is not a risk factor for rape. The idea that it is, is just another iteration of the patriarchal canard. If you have 5+ people present literally all the time, that probably works. To the extent that there occasions when one or two of said males are in a private situation with said woman, that all might actually increase the odds of rape. All of those are risk factors for rape. Again, knowing someone - even, knowing someone's entire family - doesn't reduce the risk of them raping you. By definition, you can't get raped while alone. It's being around other people that is the risk factor - especially if you have a reduced social status relative to the males you're around. I can see a pervasive lack of privacy (as opposed to, "loneliness") mitigating this, though.
Yes, those are the kinds of opportunities that make the statistics. Also male servants [although we have had male servants since I was a kid and they escorted us everywhere], visitors, salespeople etc. But since structurally we live in joint families, it means that apart from grandparents, there are unmarried siblings of grandparents, aunts, cousins, sisters and female relatives who have no means of support that are generally present in most families. This is especially true in North India where a lot of men who work in cities leave the females and elderly males and kids at home with relatives. Also in Kerala where almost everyone seems to be in the Gulf. Basically the rape rates are lower because the opportunities are limited. Not only would the woman need to be unchaperoned, you'd have to lock the door, hope there are no neighbours who will pop in for chai, no sales person who comes on a regular basis, no kids who fight and come looking for consolation [along with all their friends] etc etc etc. And yes, there are still plenty of rapes so clearly people can get these opportunities. And it will increase as families get smaller and more urbanised - I have my own room now but its only because most of my family lives abroad or has moved to their own apartments. As kids, we had one family per room
