Following the Chain of Rape cases in India, the safety of Women falls on questionable ground

The current scenario of Rapes happening in India

India, being a country known for their rich cultural and religious diversity, has been empowering women since Vedic times. This is the only country from which worshipping of women’s divinity and empowerment originated for a long period of time, yet the series of rape that has been happening in this country holds a question that is the people of this country still respect women as they worship the women divinity in almost every state?

Sixteen minutes is the time gap for every rape that has been happening in India till now, and it is a shameful number for all the citizens of this country that workshops for women figures for their spiritual beliefs and support. From 2005 to 2022, there were a total of 4,22,886 rape cases that have been registered in India.

The number can be significantly high due to the huge number of cases which have not been registered by the families to avoid attention and the stigma that this can happen to them. The capital of India, Delhi, is the most unsafe city in the country for women, with registered over 1,204 registered rape cases, and Coimbatore is the safest place in this country for women, with 7 registered rape cases.

India is renowned for being among the world’s riskiest nations for women. Whether they are alone on the streets, at work, or at the markets, Indian women are always on high alert. Domestic abuse is considered culturally acceptable in India because of the country’s predominantly patriarchal culture. According to studies, the majority of working women experience domestic abuse at the hands of their spouses. Compared to a woman who contributes financially to the household, the non-earning woman’s situation exacerbates her vulnerability and dependence on her male husband. The primary cause of the low literacy rates in the nation, which in turn leads to women’s maltreatment and disempowerment, is widespread poverty.

The Justice System for Rape in India

Image credit | indiacode.nic.in

In India, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860 governs rape under two sections, which are basically 375 and 376. It has been defined by IPC that rape is sexual intercourse with a woman against her will without her consent and misrepresentation. Clause (a), (b), (c), ans (d) of IPC section 375 define that if a man penetrates their penis or any object inside the vagina of a woman or any part of her body, including the urethra and anus are said to be rape and this has some explanations as per section 376.

The first description is consent, and others attain to the situations that have been created by anyone based on the grounds that the woman forcefully gives the consent, and this also falls under rape charges. However, it can be seen in both sections 375 and 376 that marital rape has no relation to crime in the Indian Constitution if the husband and wife are over fifteen years of age. The punishment for rape, as per the Indian judiciary system, is a minimum of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment or lifetime imprisonment where there has been no clause for the direct death sentence to the criminal at once.

In addition to being socially stigmatised, an Indian rape victim finds it difficult to get justice because the system frequently holds the victim accountable for their misfortune. It has been seen that the conviction rate for rape cases in India is under 30%, which means that 70% of the accused people are not convicted, and they may repeat the crime in future. There have been situations recorded where victims have been subjected to hostile environments at police stations and have frequently been under pressure to drop their claims.

However, it may take decades for a matter to be decided after it is brought to trial. Particularly in the instance of rape, there is an enormous backlog, with more new cases filed year than are resolved. The lengthy process might cause the victim to experience so much trauma that they frequently give in to pressure from their own or the perpetrator’s family.

The Major Rape Cases in India

There has been a number of rapes cases in India which has attained the limelight of common people and had a huge impact on citizens of this country by bringing changes to the system, and some of them are as follows:

The Nirbhaya Rape Case, Delhi 2012

On a cold dark night in Delhi and the date was 16th December, this incident happened where a female physiotherapist was gang raped by six men on a bus which she and her friend has attained to for reaching home.

She and her friend, who is a man, were returning after watching a movie and there were six other men on the charter bus, including the bus driver, when they got on it at the Munirka bus terminal. The men got off the bus and started travelling in an unexpected direction. Then, all six men on the bus except her friend and the driver started molesting her. Basically, all were drunk, and then they pulled her to the back of the bus and repeatedly gang-raped her for over an hour.

This case was called “Nirbhaya”, which was the name given by the media due to the secrecy the Indian judiciary system said to maintain for any rape victim about their name. Nirbhaya, meaning fearless, was the name given to her.

The driver drove the bus from various regions of Delhi while this was happening inside the bus. After that, the juvenile who was part of this incident inserted an iron rod into the private part of the victim, damaging all the organs that came in the way of that iron rod. Later, her friend was also beaten brutally by those criminals, and they were thrown out of the bus and left abandoned on the roadside.

One person who was passing by that area saw them, and then both were taken to Safdarjung Hospital. After reaching the doctors, they found that she had only 5% of the intestine left in her body and on 29th December, she died after suffering for 13 days in the hospital. All six were found guilty by the court, and except the juvenile, the rest five were sentenced to the death penalty. This was the first time in India that such a brutal rape case had happened, which led to various changes in the judiciary system.

Shakti Mills Gang Rape, Mumbai 2013

The 2013 Mumbai gang rape, also referred to as the Shakti Mills gang rape, describes an incident wherein a juvenile and five other persons gang-raped a 22-year-old photojournalist who was interning in Mumbai for an English-language magazine. On August 22, 2013, she and a male coworker went on an assignment to the abandoned Shakti Mills compound in South Mumbai, which is close to Mahalaxmi, and that is when the event happened.

The victim’s colleague was raped by the accused after she was bound with belts. During the sexual attack, the accused took pictures of the victim and threatened to post them on social media if the victim reported the rape. At the same time, another case was filed, which happened a few days back in the same place, which was reported by the victim by three of the same accused in the Shakti mill case.

All five of the adult defendants in both cases were found guilty by a Mumbai sessions court on March 20, 2014. In the case of the photographer rape, the court sentenced the three previous perpetrators to death on April 4, 2014. Of the remaining two defendants, one was given a life sentence in jail, and the other became an approver of the case. The juvenile justice board held separate trials for the two juveniles, one in each instance. On July 15, 2015, they were found guilty and given the maximum sentence that an Indian juvenile offender could receive, three years, including time spent in custody at a reform school in Nashik.

Jisha Rape and Murder Case, Kerala 2016

The victim was a 30-year-old law student in Kerala who was raped and murdered, and the body of the victim was found cold with hanging intestines from her dead body. This crime was committed by a single person who stabbed her 38 times on her body, and the outrage of this incident shook the country once again after the 2012 Delhi gang rape case. The crime shocked Kerala and sparked a political blame game and widespread public outcry over the state of law and order there.

It also highlighted the family’s struggle with poverty because she lived with her mother and sister in a tiny one-room home without even a toilet. The victim’s unremarkable background, according to activists, detracted from the greater rage and attention that the crime ought to have garnered. Later, a labourer who migrated from Assam for work was found guilty of the case and was awarded the death penalty. A great gesture from the Indian government as they have provided a government job to her sister so that her sister and her mother can have a comfortable life.

Kathua gang rape and murder, Kashmir 2018

This case was about an eight-year-old Muslim girl who was gang raper and killed on January 2018 in the Rasana hamlet in Kathua, which is in Jammu and Kashmir, India. There were seven male suspects in this case, out of which six were adults and one male was juvenile. The trial in Kathua started on April 16, 2018, after the charge sheet was submitted and the accused were taken into custody. This was an attempt to terrorise the Bakarwal community, who were nomads, off Jammu while the victim belonged to this group.

The body was found by the villagers one km from the village after she vanished for a week. After eight guys were charged in April 2018, the incident became widely publicised. It has been said that on July 10th 2019, the next year, six of the seven accused were convicted, one was acquitted, and three of those were given death sentences, and for the remaining criminals, life imprisonment was given. An FIR has been filed against six members of the investigation for tampering with all the evidence and disturbing the nature of the investigation.

Hyderabad gang rape and Murder, Hyderabad 2019

This was the rape of a 26-year-old veterinary doctor on 27th November 2019 by four males, which were truck divers, and their assistants in Shamshabad near Hyderabad, India. The victim just parked her scooter near a toll plaza from where two of the truck drivers and their assistants noticed her.

She was pushed into some close-by bushes, where she was raped and smothered after they deflated her tyre and pretended to be helpful. After that, they put her body on a truck and then burned her body to remove all the evidence and DNA samples, and then they left it on the side of the road, which was found one day after her death on 28th November 2019 in Shadnagar. Security cameras and the victim’s cell phone provided the police with evidence.

Following their arrest, the accused were detained for fourteen days in Cherlapally Central Prison. For the accused’s claimed crimes, a fast-track court was established by the Telangana Chief Minister. Later, it was said that the four accused were taken to the same crime scene and were shot dead in an encounter.

Outrage was generated by the murder and rape across the nation. Following the occurrence, there were broad protests and rallies against rape, with the public calling for stronger legislation regarding rape and rapists. The Telangana Police was chastised by the Minister of Home Affairs, who also announced that the government planned to change the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Penal Code to include provisions allowing for faster sentencing by fast-track courts.

Kolkata rape and murder incident, Kolkata, 2024

The case is of a 31-year-old doctor who was practising at a prestigious medical college in Kolkata for her postgraduate degree. This incident happened on the night of 8th August 2024 when she had her dinner with her colleagues and went for a rest after her 36-hour-long duty period in a doctor’s restroom.

Later on, the next morning, which was 9th August 2024, she was found dead in a seminar room of the hospital she was working with. They found her body cold and bleeding from her eyes, mouth and genitals in a semi-nude state with a broken pelvic girdle, and the legs were in the right angle position. Also, there were several bite marks on her body with an ample amount of semen that had been found inside her body, and this crime was committed by multiple male members.

Significant indignation, national and worldwide protests, calls for a full inquiry, and increased discussion regarding the protection of women and doctors in India have all resulted from the occurrence. This was the most brutal rape incident that has happened in Kolkata, which was once called the capital of India, and now there is a question about women’s safety.

This is the same place where various women deities are worshipped several times a year, which also showcases the empowerment and respect this state provides to women. It has been over three weeks, and no conclusive aspects or suspects have been found since the incident happened. Since then, everyday protests and rallies have been going on seeking justice for the girl who has done nothing wrong in her life or whose only fault was being a woman.

How many more to come?

These were some of the brutal rape incidents that have happened in India over a significant span of time. Yet some illiterate and culturally ill people indicating towards brutal criminals always provide a shock to prove that this country has not yet developed and can never will, as literacy can never be the way to solve the problem of rape culture.

India is now the fifth-largest economy in the world and the fastest-growing economy as of 2024, while women are not even safe outside their homes. It has been years since several amendments have been made to the judiciary system of this country to stop these types of brutal incidents. Yet there have been no conclusive steps taken which seriously stop these types of crimes once and for all. This leaves a simple question to all the respected citizens of this country and the Indian judiciary system: what are the steps taken to provide safety for women?

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