The government pledged to crack down and created fast-track courts for rape cases, doubled prison terms for rape and criminalized voyeurism, stalking, acid attacks and the trafficking of women. The Tourism Ministry launched a nationwide "I Respect Women" campaign following a Swiss bicyclist who was gang-raped in central India and an American woman was gang-raped two months later in the town of Manali.
But if modernization is changing the risks women face, it is also giving them the ability to speak up. After December, the number of rapes reported in the city doubled to 359, from the 143 reported in January-March of 2012. Experts even say that those numbers have to be incorrect considering the the high population of 17 million people. "The biggest change is that women in the middle classes are reporting crimes to police," Sidhir Kakar said. They are fed up with the sexual harassment and fear, with the constant barrage of lewd comments and even groping and with being told they should stay indoors at night. In my opinion the authorities in India are almost saying that they should just stay inside to prevent it, this is a lot alike the U.S. authorities basically saying that if girls and women do not want to get raped then they should not dress provocative. This, personally, is blaming the rape on the women itself, which is very incorrect. It is definitely not our women's fault that we get raped, as I see the reasoning with how dressing more scandalous can make you more prone to get raped, yet people wearing sloppy clothing taking out the trash at night can still get raped. The court lambasted India's poor record of conviction in rape cases, saying "Why are 90 percent of rape cases ending in acquittals? The situation is going from bad to worse."
I read about this a few days ago while looking for a current event. I was astounded when I calculated that approximately 70 women are raped each day. Some being as young as 4, and most being part of an all together violent, often lethal, attack. I do think it is important for women to take certain precautions to protects themselves (even though it's the men that need to fix their ways). However, I don't think the prevention of rape should fall completely on the women's shoulders. First of all rape is more o a matter of power than a "list" crime. So anybody could be a victim, not just the attractive ones. More effort should go into teaching men to respect women as their equal.
ReplyDeleteThis is so sick. The worst part is that most of these rape cases are ending with acquittals. I think that more effort should be put into improving the justice system so that the people who commit these awful crimes get the punishment they deserve.
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