Qaisar Mansoor
Crimes against women, especially Dalit women, had risen under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, said All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Sanjay Dutt
India is the most dangerous country in the world to be a woman because of the high risk of sexual violence and slave labor, a new survey of experts shows.
“While our PM tiptoes around his garden making Yoga videos, India leads Afghanistan, Syria in rape & violence against women,” tweeted Rahul Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress, referencing Modi’s recent participation in an online fitness trend.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation released its results of a survey of 550 experts on women’s issues, finding India to be the most dangerous nation for sexual violence against women, as well as human trafficking for domestic work, forced labor, forced marriage and sexual slavery, among other reasons.
It was also the most dangerous country in the world for cultural traditions that impact women, the survey found, citing acid attacks, female genital mutilation, child marriage and physical abuse. India was the fourth most dangerous country for women in the same survey seven years ago.
The release of the report comes amid mounting public outrage in India, where a series of high-profile rape cases, including two unrelated attacks on girls aged 16 and eight, have forced the issue of sexual violence back onto the national agenda.
In April, thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand better protection for women, in some of the largest mass demonstrations held in the country since the rape and murder of a female college student in Delhi in 2012.
India has long grappled with the issue of sexual violence. In the months following the 2012 case, the central government moved to pass legislation increasing penalties for sexual assault, rape, and sexual abuse, including extending prison sentences and introducing the death penalty.
But despite the introduction of stricter laws, around 100 sexual assaults are reported to police in the country every day, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, with nearly 39,000 alleged attacks reported in 2016, an increase of 12% from the previous year. India had moved to the top of poll showed not enough was being done to protect the rights of women.
“India has shown utter disregard and disrespect for women … rape, marital rapes, sexual assault and harassment, female infanticide has gone unabated,” Manjunath Gangadhara, an official at the Karnataka state government in southwest India, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“The (world’s) fastest growing economy and leader in space and technology is shamed for violence committed against women.
The issue of sexual violence has put pressure on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who opponents accuse of failing to properly address the issue of violence against women.
Since 2014, the BJP has made no visible effort to ensure the existing laws against rape were implemented. It was only in 2018 that money from the Nirbhaya fund was allocated for measures to improve women’s safety and set up fast track courts for rape cases. But utilisation rates remain dismal.
When four men accused of raping and burning alive a young veterinarian from Hyderabad were killed in an extra-judicial police encounter, crowds celebrated. It spoke of a chilling public bloodlust but it was also a grim reflection of just how broken the system remains.
