August 9 the rape and murder of a 31-year-old intern at a government hospital in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengalraised concerns about sexual violence against women in India and triggered a wave of protests across the country.
On the eve of India’s 78th anniversary of independence from British occupation, protesters against sexual violence against women and girls are demanding questions on whether India belongs to women as much because it belongs to men.
Although the Indian structure guarantees fundamental and equal rights of girlsespecially Articles 14 and 21, cultural and social elements of life in India tell one other story. Women in India are subjected to a culture of silencing and victim blaming. This culture makes it difficult for victims and survivors of sexual abuse to access legal and social support.
Women must be hypervigilant about their safety. Being in a relentless state of alert negatively affects the health of girls and girls.
In response to this week’s murder, doctors at state hospitals across the country have launched protests and called for indefinite strike. In India, women make up 30 percent of doctors and 80 percent of nurses. In Calcutta and its suburbs, 1000’s of girls took part in “Let’s Take Back the Night” marches demanding “independence to live in freedom and without fear.”
Other cities have joined the protest. Historically, women’s rights groups all over the world have held night marches to reclaim a call to eliminate gender-based violence.
According to this week autopsy reportThe slain medical intern had a broken collar and pelvic bones, and severe genital injuries. However, despite these clear signs of physical injuries related to rape, hospital administrators at RG Kar Medical College tried to label the death of the young medical resident as as suicide.
The Principal of RG Kar Medical College was reappointed inside 4 hours about his resignation.
(AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Sexual violence is an epidemic
In India, sexual violence and rape are an epidemic, threatening the protection and future lives of girls and girls. Rape and sexual violence are the norm for the sake of culture impunity, silencing and blaming the victim .
In 2022 Women reported 90 rapes a dayThe reality — including unreported cases — is far grimmer.
Just last 12 months, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has declared Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) as certainly one of the safest cities for ladies in India. The brutal rape and murder at RG Kar Medical College suggests otherwise.
This rape in Kolkata bears a striking resemblance to the infamous Delhi rape of 2012. Gang rapeIn the identical 12 months, in 2012, one other high-profile case of gang rape took place in Kolkata. Park Street faced public criticism when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee first accused the incident was made up.
For Dalits and marginalised women and girls, the situation is even worse.
Between 2015 and 2021, a rise of 45 percent was recorded. crimes involving sexual violence against Dalit women. In 2020, 4 upper caste men raped a Dalit woman in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh.
In 2022 a policeman was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh. The reason the young girl ended up within the police station was because she had gone for help and filed a grievance against men from her community who had raped her.
(AP Photo/Bikas Das)
A culture of impunity for rape?
The cycle of impunity for perpetrators continues because there’s a scarcity of political will to guard women and girls.
Law enforcement officers take part in covering up crimes and government representatives silence and blame the victims.
Despite the efforts of the Indian judiciary to determine fast-track special courts to supply justice to rape victims and survivors, the truth is different. Stigma, violence and marginalization are serious barriers to women and girls accessing justice mechanisms.
For example, the perpetrators burned alive certainly one of the survivors on the strategy to the ceremony. trial within the case of rape.
And it took the court seven years to to manage justice within the Delhi gang rape case. Many incidents go unreported because survivors are ashamed and silent.
Rape culture in India is a byproduct of patriarchy and misogyny, normalizes male violence against women. Perpetrators use sexual violence as a strategy to map their dominance and control over women’s bodies. By exposing young men and boys to ideas rooted in subordination and harmful stereotypes of femininity, toxic masculinity contributes to a culture of aggression, a way of superiority and violence, allowing men to justify rape as their prerogative.
Next steps
A real commitment from the federal government with a multi-faceted and coordinated approach to difficult societal attitudes and delivering timely justice is required to rework the country’s deeply entrenched rape culture. To accomplish that requires a big shift in mindset and motion.
This have to be accompanied by dedicated policies to sensitize men and boys on the difficulty of consent and eliminate harmful male behaviors. Independent India must create a protected and inclusive environment where women and girls are free to exist without fear of violence, oppression and marginalization. Both the national and state governments should ensure timely trials, witness protection and counseling services.
(AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A)
On the eve of India’s independence celebrations, it’s ironic that political parties are using slogans like ‘Glory to Mother India’ Go to Mother India to evoke the female nature of the nation.
How the case is developing The query stays whether the nationwide outrage and protests will result in long-awaited changes and justice for the victim and her family.
