Outrage Grows In India Over Gang-Rape On Bus

[News_Editor]

A protester holds a placard during a rally outside the residence of Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dixit in New Delhi. (Photo: Reuters)

NEW DELHI—The hours-long gang-rape and near-fatal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi triggered outrage and anger across the country on Wednesday as Indians demanded action from authorities who have long ignored persistent violence and harassment against women.

In the streets and in Parliament, calls rose for stringent and swift punishment against those attacking women, including a proposal to make rapists eligible for the death penalty. As the calls for action grew louder, two more gang-rapes were reported, including one in which the 10-year-old victim was killed.

“I feel it is sick what is happening across the country. It is totally sick, and it needs to stop,†said Smitha, a 32-year-old protester who goes by only one name.

Thousands of demonstrators clogged the streets in front of New Delhi’s police headquarters, protested near Parliament and rallied outside a major university. Angry university students set up roadblocks across the city, causing massive traffic jams.

Hundreds rallied outside the home of the city’s top elected official before police dispersed them with water cannons, a move that earned further condemnation from opposition leaders, who accused the government of being insensitive.

“We want to jolt people awake from the cozy comfort of their cars. We want people to feel the pain of what women go through every day,†said Aditi Roy, a Delhi University student.

As protests raged in cities across India, at least two girls were gang-raped, with one of them killed.

Police on Wednesday fished out the body of a 10-year-old girl from a canal in Bihar State’s Saharsa District. Police Superintendent Ajit Kumar Satyarthi said the girl had been gang-raped and killed and her body dumped in the canal. Police were investigating and a breakthrough was expected soon, Satyarthi said.

Elsewhere, a 14-year-old schoolgirl was in critical condition in Banka district of Bihar after she was raped by four men, said Jyoti Kumar, the district education officer.

The men have been identified, but police were yet to make any arrests, Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old victim of the first rape lay in critical condition in the hospital with severe internal injuries, doctors said.

Police said six men raped the woman and savagely beat her and her companion with iron rods on a bus driving around the city—passing through several police checkpoints—before stripping them and dumping them on the side of the road on Sunday night.

Delhi Police chief Neeraj Kumar said four men have been arrested and a search was underway for the other two.

Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress Party, visited the victim, promised swift action against the perpetrators and called for police to be trained to deal with crimes against women.

“It is a matter of shame that these incidents recur with painful regularity and that our daughters, sisters and mothers are unsafe in our capital city,†she wrote in a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

In New Delhi and across India, the outpouring of anger is unusual in a country where attacks against women are rarely prosecuted. The Times of India newspaper dedicated four pages to the rape on Wednesday, demanding an example be made of the rapists, while television stations debated the nation’s treatment of its women.

Opposition lawmakers shouted slogans and protested outside Parliament and called for making rape a capital crime. Cutting across party affiliations, lawmakers demanded the government announce a plan to safeguard women in the city.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told Parliament he had ordered increased police patrols on the streets, especially at night.

Shinde said the government has introduced bills to increase the punishment for rapes and other crimes against women, but they are bogged down in Parliament.

Analysts and protesters said the upsurge of anger was chiefly due to increasing incidents of crime against women and the seeming inability of authorities to protect them.

“We have been screaming ourselves hoarse demanding greater security for women and girls. But the government, the police, and others responsible for public security have ignored the daily violence that women face,†said Sehba Farooqui, a women’s rights activist.

Farooqui said women’s groups were demanding fast-track courts to deal with rape and other crimes against women.

In India’s painfully slow justice system, cases can languish for 10 to 15 years before reaching court.

“We have thousands of rape cases pending in different courts of the country. As a result, there is no fear of law,†says Ranjana Kumari, a sociologist and head of the New Delhi-based Center for Social Research.

“We want this case to be dealt with within 30 days and not the go the usual way when justice is denied to rape victims because of inordinate delays and the rapists go scot-free,†Farooqui said.

Analysts say crimes against women are on the rise as more young women leave their homes to join the work force in India’s booming economy, even as deep-rooted social attitudes that women are inferior remain unchanged. Many families look down on women, viewing the girl child as a burden that forces them to pay a huge dowry to marry her off.

Kumari says a change can come about only when women are seen as equal to men.

Rapes in India remain drastically underreported. In many cases, families do not report rapes due to the stigma that follows the victim and her family. In other instances, families may decide not to report a rape out of frustration with the long delays in court and harassment at the hands of the police.

Police, themselves are reluctant to register cases of rape and domestic violence in order to keep down crime figures or to elicit a bribe from the victim.

In a sign of the protesters’ fury, Khushi Pattanaik, a student, said death was too easy a punishment for the rapists, they should instead be castrated and forced to suffer as their victim did.

“It should be made public so that you see it, you feel it and you also live with it—the kind of shame and guilt,†she said.

Source: Irrawaddy.org

[pacovl46]

Raping someone is bad enough as it is, but then beating them to death? <deleted>??? There's a special place in hell for these people!!!

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been deleted.

[Chicog]

Every time I read this story I simply despair. The poor woman. I hope the criminals that did it have their balls cut off in prison.

[Scotsman5]

I for one will never visit India whilst this disgraceful treatment of women continues. We are all human beings and should be treated equally. Indian Authorities take note I hope and urge all potential tourists to boycott your country.

[submaniac]

horrible. horrible. horrible. It is especially sickening because if you are not wealthy, you have to take public transportation in India meaning that any woman on a bus could be victim.

[BookMan]

This was a reprehensible crime against this innocent young woman and her boyfriend.

Hopefully the ensuing public protests will bring some change in attitudes and acceptance of women in part of Indian scoiety

[BookMan]

horrible. horrible. horrible. It is especially sickening because if you are not wealthy, you have to take public transportation in India meaning that any woman on a bus could be victim.

Yes and No.

The bus was 'off duty' at the time and the drunken rapists picked up the woman and her BF , one would think with a specofic view to rape. So she was not actually on public transport but picked up by a bus they assumed was okay.

Very unfortunate and sad for her. We can only hope the rapists receive justifiably long sentences

[theajarn]

Wow, never knew this kind of stuff went on in places around the world.

Women should start carrying personal protection... like a machete at the minimum, but that should also come with proper training. Criminals should be dragged from their houses and hung high. I mean, c'mon... how many protesters are there? Here in Thailand you only needed a couple hundred to overrun a military armoury. Couldn't they do the same there in India? Overrun the armoury, pull up some records, and then make a fitting example of the criminals who are yet to see the inside of a court room.

[Songhua]

Death is too good for these disgusting creatures.

How do a group of 'men' hatch the combined mindset to rape and dispose of a ten year old child?

[JemJem]

Every time I read this story I simply despair. The poor woman. I hope the criminals that did it have their balls cut off in prison.

I am pretty sure that they have already got a severe beating from guards and some other inmates there. India is not Norway, where the fascist mass murderer Breivik is having it easy in jail, with plenty of amenities available to him. Disgusting.

[gl555]

India is one piece of shit place if you're a woman.

A woman can get molested and raped with people around and no one will help her. They'll just look. Let's not forget the police will blame the rape victim for being a slut or dressing too sexily. You would think a country which has had a female prime minister and a female president would be more progressive. But nope.

[Morch]

Wow, never knew this kind of stuff went on in places around the world.

Women should start carrying personal protection... like a machete at the minimum, but that should also come with proper training. Criminals should be dragged from their houses and hung high. I mean, c'mon... how many protesters are there? Here in Thailand you only needed a couple hundred to overrun a military armoury. Couldn't they do the same there in India? Overrun the armoury, pull up some records, and then make a fitting example of the criminals who are yet to see the inside of a court room.

While lynching has some appeal in certain cases, might be worthwhile to consider that mobs do not always hold all the facts and that their learned judgment is not infallible. Could also raise some questions regarding the quality of the Indian police - not that great at catching people ("absconding" is a popular word on the news crime sections, on par with "crackdown" in Thailand), not always that picky when they do need to show some progress. And then there's this issue of India flaunting the "largest democracy" card, goes with some sort of legal system and due process, usually.

But apparently some subscribe to this point of view:

A police officer injured in Sunday's clashes with protesters died in hospital and police filed a murder case against some protesters, said police spokesman Rajan Bhagat.

http://bigstory.ap.o...-indian-capital

Another point (which I am not sure is relevant to this specific case, but certainly to many others) is that Indian social structure is based on myriad classes and casts, not to mention gender, race, and religion. These divisions are often manifested in the way people perceive and treat others.

Edited December 25, 2012 by Morch

[JemJem]

Do you think things will EVER change, regarding the treatment of females in the Middle East and the Subcontinent (and of course in many parts of Africa) ? Sadly, I am not optimistic.

[Morch]

Do you think things will EVER change, regarding the treatment of females in the Middle East and the Subcontinent (and of course in many parts of Africa) ? Sadly, I am not optimistic.

More a question of pace. Taking a long term (ok...real long term) view, of course things changed for the better. The OP would have been a non-issue in the past.

[Steely Dan]

Do you think things will EVER change, regarding the treatment of females in the Middle East and the Subcontinent (and of course in many parts of Africa) ? Sadly, I am not optimistic.

More a question of pace. Taking a long term (ok...real long term) view, of course things changed for the better. The OP would have been a non-issue in the past.

Things in Europe have taken a turn for the worse since immigration from the third world increased, yet we are supposed to indulge in politically correct gymnastics to avoid spelling out the truth.

[rgs2001uk]

Do you think things will EVER change, regarding the treatment of females in the Middle East and the Subcontinent (and of course in many parts of Africa) ? Sadly, I am not optimistic.

More a question of pace. Taking a long term (ok...real long term) view, of course things changed for the better. The OP would have been a non-issue in the past.

Things in Europe have taken a turn for the worse since immigration from the third world increased, yet we are supposed to indulge in politically correct gymnastics to avoid spelling out the truth.

I believe the PC term you are looking for is, cultural differences.

Who are we in the West to condem, honour killings, FGM and arranged child marriages, its our differences that makes us stronger isnt it?

[Morch]

I for one will never visit India whilst this disgraceful treatment of women continues. We are all human beings and should be treated equally. Indian Authorities take note I hope and urge all potential tourists to boycott your country.

Probably not quite as bad as South Africa and some other African countries, maybe wish to add them to your list of no-go places.

That aside, what would staying away from India accomplish, exactly? Wouldn't it actually be better to spend time there, spreading better notions around? Authorities handling of these issues is only one aspect of the problem. Changing ideas, perceptions and so on is another. Quite a few ways to do this while being there either as tourist or on business.

[Steely Dan]

Do you think things will EVER change, regarding the treatment of females in the Middle East and the Subcontinent (and of course in many parts of Africa) ? Sadly, I am not optimistic.

More a question of pace. Taking a long term (ok...real long term) view, of course things changed for the better. The OP would have been a non-issue in the past.

Things in Europe have taken a turn for the worse since immigration from the third world increased, yet we are supposed to indulge in politically correct gymnastics to avoid spelling out the truth.

I believe the PC term you are looking for is, cultural differences.

Who are we in the West to condem, honour killings, FGM and arranged child marriages, its our differences that makes us stronger isnt it?

Exactly, and by extension who are we to tell other governments to put their house in order when we ourselves are in denial about similar problems within certain 'communities' in our own Countries.

[rgs2001uk]

^^^^^^,

I wouldnt be so arrogant as to tell the Saudis for example how to put their house in order, their treatment of the, Shi ites, Bedoiun and the Tihamis speaks for itself.

In fact I fimly believe we in the west could learn a thing or two about, multi cultural societies and how to deal with them from, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Malayasia is no slouch either when it comes to passing racist apartheid rules and regulations.

Perhaps we should send a fact finding delegation from such places as, Blackburn, Preston, Bradford and Rotherham, I await their findings.

[Morch]

Do you think things will EVER change, regarding the treatment of females in the Middle East and the Subcontinent (and of course in many parts of Africa) ? Sadly, I am not optimistic.

More a question of pace. Taking a long term (ok...real long term) view, of course things changed for the better. The OP would have been a non-issue in the past.

Things in Europe have taken a turn for the worse since immigration from the third world increased, yet we are supposed to indulge in politically correct gymnastics to avoid spelling out the truth.

Well, this topic is about India, or at least my comment was. Bet as for Europe (the same as everywhere) - if you take the REAL long term view (talking history here) than woman are definitely better off. And if you compare the risk of getting raped, police and state agencies treatment, public stance - India is still lagging light years behind (in comparison with Western countries).

I think it would be more informative to compare the situation in India to the situation among Indian immigrants living in Europe. Probably not exactly what you meant, though.

[F430murci]

I for one will never visit India whilst this disgraceful treatment of women continues. We are all human beings and should be treated equally. Indian Authorities take note I hope and urge all potential tourists to boycott your country.

Probably not quite as bad as South Africa and some other African countries, maybe wish to add them to your list of no-go places.

That aside, what would staying away from India accomplish, exactly? Wouldn't it actually be better to spend time there, spreading better notions around? Authorities handling of these issues is only one aspect of the problem. Changing ideas, perceptions and so on is another. Quite a few ways to do this while being there either as tourist or on business.

Difficult to reason with the unreasonable and morally bankrupt. I am curious how a culture fosters a belief system that results in not one, but multiple grown males (men is too humanized) finding it acceptable or even desirable to rape, gang rape or molest ten year old children.

[rgs2001uk]

I for one will never visit India whilst this disgraceful treatment of women continues. We are all human beings and should be treated equally. Indian Authorities take note I hope and urge all potential tourists to boycott your country.

Probably not quite as bad as South Africa and some other African countries, maybe wish to add them to your list of no-go places.

That aside, what would staying away from India accomplish, exactly? Wouldn't it actually be better to spend time there, spreading better notions around? Authorities handling of these issues is only one aspect of the problem. Changing ideas, perceptions and so on is another. Quite a few ways to do this while being there either as tourist or on business.

Difficult to reason with the unreasonable and morally bankrupt. I am curious how a culture fosters a belief system that results in not one, but multiple grown males (men is too humanized) finding it acceptable or even desirable to rape, gang rape or molest ten year old children.

Gen up on Indian society, the Untouchables will do for a start.

Caste system explains it all.

[Morch]

I for one will never visit India whilst this disgraceful treatment of women continues. We are all human beings and should be treated equally. Indian Authorities take note I hope and urge all potential tourists to boycott your country.

Probably not quite as bad as South Africa and some other African countries, maybe wish to add them to your list of no-go places.

That aside, what would staying away from India accomplish, exactly? Wouldn't it actually be better to spend time there, spreading better notions around? Authorities handling of these issues is only one aspect of the problem. Changing ideas, perceptions and so on is another. Quite a few ways to do this while being there either as tourist or on business.

Difficult to reason with the unreasonable and morally bankrupt. I am curious how a culture fosters a belief system that results in not one, but multiple grown males (men is too humanized) finding it acceptable or even desirable to rape, gang rape or molest ten year old children.

Well, never said changing things is easy. A big part of the change that is doable is changing women's perceptions and awareness to rights. As the recent outrage shows, there is a certain amount of improvement on the public opinion front. I believe this has to do with India's growing middle class and openness to the world.

Certain casts and tribal communities are seen (obviously, not by all) as "marginally human" (a well remembered quote that came from a rather well educated and rich woman. Having a different religion is pretty much the same thing. On top of that, a simplistic but prevalent conception of reincarnation in Hinduism might imply that a woman's life is of lesser value.

[rgs2001uk]

^^^^^^,

dont worry the BJP have all the answers, Sri Lanka is no slouch either when it comes to sorting out the wheat from the chaff.

[JemJem]

^^^^^^,

dont worry the BJP have all the answers, Sri Lanka is no slouch either when it comes to sorting out the wheat from the chaff.

You are a BJP sympathiser ?!

I am against Islamofascists. But I am also against other types of fascists, like Hindufascists BJP, AngloSaxon nationalist fascists BNP and EDL (sadly the list goes on; there are so many bloody fascist parties/groups in this world).

[rgs2001uk]

^^^^^^,

dont worry the BJP have all the answers, Sri Lanka is no slouch either when it comes to sorting out the wheat from the chaff.

You are a BJP sympathiser ?!

I am against Islamofascists. But I am also against other types of fascists, like Hindufascists BJP, AngloSaxon nationalist fascists BNP and EDL (sadly the list goes on; there are so many bloody fascist parties/groups in this world).

Seeing as I am neither Indian nor a Hindu I am hardly likely to be a supporter or sympathiser.

Please define "facist".

[JemJem]

^^^^^^,

dont worry the BJP have all the answers, Sri Lanka is no slouch either when it comes to sorting out the wheat from the chaff.

You are a BJP sympathiser ?!

I am against Islamofascists. But I am also against other types of fascists, like Hindufascists BJP, AngloSaxon nationalist fascists BNP and EDL (sadly the list goes on; there are so many bloody fascist parties/groups in this world).

Seeing as I am neither Indian nor a Hindu I am hardly likely to be a supporter or sympathiser.

Please define "facist".

I think you know very well what a fascist is. And, the parties/groups I listed above can easily be classified as such.

Anyway, back to topic: I hope that India will introduce much tougher sentences for rapists.

[rgs2001uk]

^^^^^^, actually I dont know what a facist is.

Its a term of abuse I hear thrown about, but nobody seems to be able to define it,

Historians, political scientists and other scholars have long debated the exact nature of fascism.^[20] Each form of fascism is distinct, leaving many definitions too wide or narrow

Copied from here,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

The word fascist is sometimes used to denigrate people, institutions, or groups that would not describe themselves as ideologically fascist, and that may not fall within the formal definition of the word

The above was copied from here,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_%28insult%29

Hence my asking the question, what is a facist.

Should we call left wing dictatorships facist?

What about middle eastern theocracies?

Anyway back on topic, I hope India hangs them.

[Potosi]

Raping someone is bad enough as it is, but then beating them to death? <deleted>??? There's a special place in hell for these people!!!

Beaten to death was a cop actually, by the demonstrators against rape. Was buried yesterday. Seems that to defend women wasn't on the agenda of some of the demonstrators, but to commit violence themselves. What are the safest places in the world, where rape is rare? I don't know, but I feel Persia is amongst them. They hang rapers from cranes.