Rising tide of sexual violence in India

December 21, 2012

rape_protestNew Delhi, December 21: Despite an outpouring of anger at a student’s gang-rape, observers say misogyny remains widespread in India where sex assaults are often dismissed as “teasing” and victims find themselves blamed for attacks.

The Sunday night assault on a bus in New Delhi, which left the 23-year-old victim fighting for her life, has triggered nationwide revulsion and protests.

But campaigners say India has been slow and complacent in its response to what they call a rising tide of sexual violence against women.

Official figures show rape cases alone more than doubled between 1990 and 2008, though part of the rise could be attributed to better reporting.

“Our streets reflect an extreme misogyny,” Brinda Karat, a Communist Party lawmaker said.

“Women are objectified, harassed or sexually assaulted all the time, but no one does anything about it.

“Why should it take such a horrendous crime to wake us up to the fact that crimes against women keep increasing while conviction rates remain very low?”

National crime records show that 228,650 of the total 256,329 violent crimes recorded last year targeted women, with conviction rates for rape cases at 26 percent.

Campaigners say such figures are a direct consequence of a failure to tackle a culture in which sexual harassment is often dismissed as little more than a joke.

For example activists say “eve-teasing”, a phrase widely used to describe harassment ranging from obscene comments to molestation, obscures the depth of the problem and creates an impression that victims are only being “teased”.

There have long been complaints that police in India are dismissive of sexual harassment as a serious crime and campaigners have steadily attacked authorities for their lax and often insensitive response to victimised women.

An account published in the national newsmagazine “Tehelka” this month by a rape survivor illustrated the routine treatment of victims of sex crimes.

In it, a 23-year-old student at Delhi University recollected her ordeal, from the violent rape and beating to a brutal medical examination at a government hospital to a courtroom trial where she was questioned several times about the fit of her jeans and her “provocative” underwear.

Although Indian law requires that any rape victim be shielded from public view during a trial, no such screen was provided during her initial court appearances.

Her family received anonymous threatening phone calls every time she turned up in court. Last week, three years after the attack, her alleged rapist was cleared.

“Rape is a crime unlike any other. You have to live with your violated body, you have to live with the memory of what was done to you, and you have to live with the fact of your own helplessness,” she wrote.

In response to widespread fear among women of sexual harassment, trains in Mumbai and Delhi run segregated women-only coaches.

India’s top court directed all state governments last month to put female police officers in all public spaces including markets, parks, beaches and public transport.

A traditionally conservative country, India’s rapid economic growth has thrown open new job opportunities for women and increased their financial independence.

But activists say that many men see the trend as representing a threat to male dominance.

“Today we are seeing a real battle between a violent patriarchal mindset and a surge of empowered women who are very visible in urban India,” Hindol Sengupta, co-founder of Delhi-based non-profit Whypoll said.

“Female empowerment is totally unsettling to many men in this country, it has shaken up their sense of entitlement and their response is violent and volatile.”

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Agencies
August 5,2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Ayodhya to lay the foundation of the Ram temple. He participated in the bhoomi poojan rituals at the temple site and offered prayers. He will shortly lay the foundation of the temple with a sliver brick.

From Varanasi to Tamil Nadu, many devotees have sent gifts for the ceremony, like silver bricks and coins.

Special prayers were started on Monday and will culminate with the PM laying the foundation stone for the temple. The city has been decorated with paintings depicting scenes from the Ramayana. The Uttar Pradesh government has also made elaborate security arrangement for the event.

Apart from the state police, the NSG commandos have also been kept on stand-by. The invitations for the ceremony have been kept limited due to the coronavirus pandemic. Veteran BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will witness the event from New Delhi via video-conferencing.

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News Network
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: India on Monday reported the highest single-day spike of 9,983 more COVID-19 cases and 206 deaths in the last 24 hours.

With this, the country's coronavirus count has reached 2,56,611, including 1,25,381 active cases, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

1,24,094 patients have been cured/discharged so far and 7,135 succumbed to the deadly virus. While one patient has migrated.

With 85,975 cases, Maharashtra is the worst-affected state in the country followed by Tamil Nadu at 31,667 cases.

A total of 1,08,048 samples were tested for coronavirus in the last 24 hours and overall 47,74,434 samples have been tested till now.

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Agencies
July 13,2020

Jaipur, July 13: Amid deepening political crisis in Rajasthan, a crucial meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) will be held at the chief minister's residence here on Monday.  

The Congress has issued a whip to all party legislators mandating their presence during the meeting which will be convened at 10.30 am by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has made it clear that he is not going to attend the meeting.

In a statement issued on Sunday night, Pilot had claimed that the Ashok Gehlot government was in minority and more than 30 Congress and some independent legislators have pledged support to him.  

By doing so, he has openly displayed rebellion against the leadership of Gehlot.

However, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Avinash Pande has said that 109 MLAs have expressed confidence in the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in the state and have signed a letter in support.

Pande said a whip had been issued asking all the MLAs to attend the CLP meeting and that action will be taken against those who skip it.

In the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72.

The Congress has the support of 10 out of 13 independents, and other party MLAs like Rashtriya Lok Dal (1), which is its ally. The Congress also considers Bhartiya Tribal Party (2) and CPI(M) (2) MLAs as their supporters.

BJP ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) has three MLAs in the assembly.

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