Violence against women

Much has been written and debated about the BBC documentary, “India`s Daughter” and whether it should have been banned in India? After seeing the film and hearing the defence lawyers and the equally rabid rapist, being interviewed at length, I realised that nothing new was being filmed or said. It all happened on prime time TV in India and though we never got to see the parents as shown in the film, there were quite a few printed interviews that showed their love, their loss and their terrible grief.

The fact that civil society came out in huge protests all over the country and the congress government was totally out of touch with the people of India and their genuine outburst of grief and anger is also reported .

All this does not detract from the merits of a well packaged documentary that in the end most of the public will see if they want to on social media sites. The only reason the Nirbhaya story became a worldwide sensation was because of Indians who rose in revolt against the violence and demanded new more aggressive laws against rape and quicker justice for victims.

Other countries where such incidents have occurred have not had the same effect on its societies. 

This has happened, thanks to our very active media and civil society. But it has made a worldwide difference. Infact, the countries with the highest rape cases in the world are (91.6 per 100000), Trinidad and Tobago (58.4 per 100000), Sweden (53.2 per 100000), korea ( 33.7 per 100000) etc.

While, the annual rape rate in India has increased from 1.9 to 2.0 per 100,000 people over 2008-2012 period. Compared to other developed and developing countries, incidence rates of rape per 100,000 people are quite low in India. This could be due to unreported cases and there is concern about this aspect but due to a very active civil society and non-governmental organisations more victims are coming forward to register cases. 

A study done by International Business Times, UK, with official statistics reported that Lesotho had the highest incidence of rape followed by South Africa. In Lesotho, sexual violence against women and girls is widespread at the rate of 88.6 rape cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011, according to a UN report. 

“Unequal gender relations and belief in the sexual entitlement of men are entrenched in cultural and social norms, and the country has a very high incidence of rape. In the majority of cases, victims of sexual violence are silenced,” according to a research by NGO kick for life. 

All these facts are not an attempt to play down violence against women in India. As a woman and a journalist who has covered this issue for 25 years, there is no denying the feudal and often medieval mindset of men in this country who regard women as their property but the fact is that this is changing and civil society is bringing about this change which in turn is propelling political will. This is one fact that makes India different.

India`s Daughter, should have stressed on this aspect more.

Rupsha Roy

Msc.Media || PG:1