By
Sajjad Shaukat
Indian
hegemonic designs and lust for military power has resulted in brazenly ignoring
socio-economic factors behind the menace of rape, as sexual assaults are direct
outcome of ignored Fundamentalist government of the BJP led by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi still prefers military spending instead of improving social
fabric of Indian society. Rising number of rapes are attributable to religious
fanaticism, nation’s patriarchy, widespread poverty and lack of law.
Now,
India has become an eternal ordeal for women, and every 23 minutes a lady is
raped. In this respect, some women lodge a complaint or FIR, while most of them
avoid it, considering In this regard, some major rape cases are notable. On
April 14, 2015, an officer of Indian Administrative Service, SN Roy in Haryana
has been sent on leave after being accused of sexually abusing a woman who complained
to the police. On March 28, a woman from Bengaluru filed a complaint with Delhi
police against an immigration officer who sexually harassed her at Indira
Gandhi International Airport. On March 21, a court in Delhi granted bail to environmentalist
R.K. Pachauri who was facing a case of sexual attack on a woman research analyst.
On
March 18, the naked body of a 75-year-old woman was found at an ashram in West Bengal’s
Burdwan district—a second rape of a senior citizen in West Bengal within a
week. Besides, in a number of rape cases, targeting foreign women have come to
the surface in India in 2013. In March 2013, a 38 year old Swiss woman was
gang-raped in a forest near Datia town by six Indians. In January 2013 a South
Korean student was drugged and raped by the son of owner.
of
the hotel where she was staying. Regrettably, a British holidaymaker in the
northern city of Agra suffered a leg injury when she jumped out of the hotel
window to save her honor, as two men entered her hotel room with the intent to
molest her. In February 2013, a Chinese woman working in Gurgaon, was raped by
an Indian acquaintance. In May 31, 2013, a young Irish woman was raped by a man
in a house in Kalighat area. The 21 years old young girl came into with
acquaintance, an Indian native named Sujay Mitra in the city of Kolkata where
she was celebrating her birthday. In a notorious case, five years ago, 15-year
old British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling was raped and left to die on a beach in
the tourist resort of Goa. In another shameful case, in June 3, 2013, a US national
was gang-raped by three men in a truck in Manali. The woman was attacked, after
she accepted a lift by three men in a truck.
Police said the men drove the
woman to a secluded spot where they raped her and robbed her. This practice
continued in 2014. Taking cognizance of sexual assaults on the tourist ladies, British
and Swiss governments including those of other countries have already issued instructions
to women tourists to refrain from going to India due to growing risks of
insecurity In this context, The New York wrote in June 10, 2013, “Visits to
India by female tourists dropped 35 percent in the first three months of this
year compared with the same period last year.
That
three-month period came after the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old student in
New Delhi in December…every day women face the harassment and intimidation in
India.” It elaborated, “Although the per capita rate of rapes reported to the
police in India is below, as
Many
sexual attacks go unreported and that the actual number is far higher…sexual
offense law in March that imposes stronger penalties for violence against women
and criminalizes actions. But attacks on women have continued with an alarming
regularity. While Indian women are most often the targets, foreign tourists
have been victims as well.” Sumit Galhotra, a journalist who specializes in
human rights in South Asia, said that he has noticed, “While some rape cases in
India have received widespread coverage in the local media, but others have
not, particularly rape cases in rural India, which are routinely ignored in the
press…despite the pervasiveness of India’s rape problem, only a few cases get
international In fact, the fast-track court system in India is still not fast
enough. In this context, the Indian.
Judicial
system moves at a glacial pace, because the prosecution’s primary focus has,
instead, been on barring foreign journalists from proceedings.
In
this connection, on March 29, 2015, a report under the caption, “Pakistani girl
molested, Pune cop held”, published in Indian newspaper, “The Hindu” said that
a Pune policeman has been booked for molesting a minor Pakistani national at
her residence. Anand Gidde, attached to the Pakistan desk of the Foreigners
Registration Office, visited the 13-year-old’s house on March 24 Ostensibly for
verifying documents and molested her. Nevertheless, rape of a Pakistani Hindu
minor girl is driven by general acrimony of Indians against Pakistan. Despite
repeated demand of Pakistani High Commission in India, no action has been taken
against the culprit Anand Gidde who has also managed a bail before arrest.
Reportedly, the minor girl was raped by the Pune
Police official on instance of Indian secret agency, RAW officials to humiliate
the family of the victim after they refused to work for RAW. The incident is an
eye opener for foreigners, particularly Hindu and Sikh families aspiring to visit
India for pilgrimage or other purposes. Undoubtedly, major reason for
increasing cases of rape is callous attitude of Indian government and political
leaders who behave insensitively to these ugly crimes. Hence, foreign
governments and media must pay a greater attention regarding growing evil of
rape against women in India, denouncing it forcefully and uncovering negligence
of Indian police and law-enforcing agencies. Otherwise, sexual assaults on
Women in India will continue.
