Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Violence Against Women
In December 2012 a 23-year-old paramedic and her male friend boarded a bus on their
way home from the movies in Delhi only to find that it was a fake city bus, where six men
awaited them. The men beat the two friends, and raped the woman so brutally that she
died 12 days later. The woman became known in India as Nirbhaya, or 'fearless one', and
the event set off massive protests and soul-searching nationwide.
Within weeks, India passed a package of new but controversial laws to deter violence
against women: rape now carries a seven-year minimum sentence, with the death penalty
in cases where the victim dies. But in the months following the murder, more crimes took
place, including violent rapes of girls as young as four. And while some Indian politicians
condemned the rapists, others made comments that downplayed rape or blamed the vic-
tim.
Many in India are also now reflecting on other abuses of women (tens of thousands die
over dowry disputes alone each year), widespread police and justice-system mishandling
of cases (of the more than 600 reported rapes in Delhi in 2012, just one resulted in a con-
viction), and the larger problems of gender inequality. The situation for women's violence
isn't good, but many are hopeful that, now that the issues are out in the open, change will
follow.
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