How does this bode for the women of the country which have been under the rule of the BJP government for the past ten years? The BJP for one has not shied often from supporting men accused of rape and violence against women. 

While the BJP’s website repeatedly talks about Nari Shakti, and the need for removing discrimination and also to give the girl child ‘special emphasis’, BJP MPs and MLAs have often subjected their very own women colleagues to derogatory comments. 

BJP politicians have also not seemed to spare women in power that belong to the opposition. 

The PM Modi himself is not shy of having made comments many considered sexist. In 2018, he referred to Rajya Sabha MP Sonia Gandhi as ‘widow’ in a speech, “Ye Congress ki kaun si vidhwa thi jiske khate mein paisa jaata tha?” PM Modi did not even spare the families of politicians. When he was the chief minister of Gujarat he was reported once calling Trivandrum MP from Congress, Shashi Tharoor’s wife, Sunanda Pushkar, ‘a 50 crore girlfriend.’ 

The Congress leader is repeatedly hit with such comments. In 2019 Giriraj Singh once made a highly derogatory comment on her when it was in the news that actor Sapna Choudhury would join the Congress, “Rahul’s mother was also in the same profession in Italy and his father made her his own. He (Rahul Gandhi) should also take the family tradition forward and make Sapna his own.”

Crimes against women have been consistently rising in the country. In 2021, out of six million registered crimes, 428,278 cases were categorised as crimes against women. This marked a 26.35% increase over a span of six years since 2016 when 338,954 such cases were recorded. Similarly, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), reported cases of rapes against Dalit women witnessed a troubling 45 percent increase from 2015 to 2020. The data tells us that on an average of 10 incidents of rape against Dalit women and girls are reported daily across India.

What contribution have BJP and their allies’ leaders made to these statistics? In the very recent case of sitting MP from the RD(S), which is part of the NDA alliance, from Karnataka, Prajwal Revanna, who has been noted to have made almost 3000 videos of women being sexually exploited or assaulted, is now reportedly absconding from the country. Sabrang India further noted how several leaders of the BJP have been accused of crimes against women, including MP Brijbushan Sharan Singh, now-convicted Kuldeep Singh Sengar and Ramdular Gond etc. 

Similarly, the BJP’s response to crimes against women has been harrowing. The Hathras rape and murder case of a Dalit woman in UP reveals the harrowing way in which the party has seemingly revealed its position on women’s issues. A young Dalit girl was brutally raped and subjected to brutal and fatal violence by four upper caste Thakur attackers in September 2020. The family of the victim were subjected to threats and fear and intimidation after the incident as it gained limelight. Her family was also denied the right to bury her, as her body was reportedly forcibly cremated by the UP police one night. Similarly, witnesses were also harassed and intimidated during the trial, which resulted in the conviction of only one Sandeep Sisodia, and acquittal of the three others. This took place despite the victim giving a testimony against the four in front of a magistrate before her death. Three Muslims, which included two journalists and a taxi driver, who were visiting Hathras to cover the incident were instead arrested and imprisoned for over three years. Furthermore, a report by The Wire claimed that the UP government, under BJP’s Yogi Adityanath, had tried to use PR firms to push the narrative in foreign media that the victim was not raped. 

Similarly, if we move east to Gujarat, the Bilkis Bano case was a harrowing case from the 2002 Gujarat massacre. Recently, in January 2024 the Supreme Court squashed Gujarat’s BJP-led government that granted remission to her rapists. Before the order was squashed, the rapists were released from jail to be received by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad with garlands and sweets. The rapists were also incidentally seen sharing the stage with BJP MLA and MP in Gujarat in 2023. 

Bilkis Bano had been gangraped in Gujarat while being pregnant. Seven of her family members, including her 3-year-old daughter, were murdered in the horrifying carnage. 

The track record of BJP, its ally parties and organisations, seems to paint a harrowing picture of the BJP’s stance on women’s issues. 

Related

NDA candidate Prajwal Revanna accused of sexually exploiting and videotaping thousands of women

UP government fails to appeal against Hathras gang rape judgment acquitting 3 accused – are we surprised?

Bilkis Bano vindicated!

Justice once more for Bilkis Bano, but what now lies ahead?

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The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 2020, report revealed that Uttar Pradesh has topped the list of crimes against women with maximum number of cases at 49,385, followed by West Bengal (36,439), Rajasthan (34,535), Maharashtra (31,954) and Madhya Pradesh (25,640).

The total number of cases registered of crimes against women in 2020 stands at 3,71,503. This figure is lower than 4,05,326 cases registered in the year 2019 and 3,78,236 cases in 2018.

2020 has also recorded 28,046 rape cases across all States and Union Territories. Rajasthan reported the highest number of rape cases (5,310), followed by Uttar Pradesh (2,796), Madhya Pradesh (2,339), and Maharashtra (2,061).

Crimes against women includes cases of rape, dowry deaths, abetment to suicide, acid attack, cruelty by husbands or relatives, kidnapping, trafficking and outraging her modesty. The data shows that majority of cases under crime against women were registered under ‘Cruelty by husband or his relatives’ (30.2 percent), followed by ‘Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ (19.7 percent), ‘Kidnaping and abduction of women’ (19 percent) and then ‘rape’ (7.2 percent).  

10,682 cases were filed against husbands/relatives for cruelty in 2020. As many as 6,984 women were assaulted with intent to outrage her modesty and 6,710 cases of kidnapping and abduction were registered last year.

Atrocities against SC/ST communities

456 cases of rape were registered in 2020 under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. A total of 50,291 crimes against members belonging to the Scheduled Caste and 8,272 cases against Scheduled Tribes took place last year.

2020 saw a rise in the atrocities against Dalits and Scheduled Tribes. As opposed to over 50,000 cases last year, 2018 had recorded 42,793 cases and 2019 had seen 45,961 cases. With respect to atrocities against ST members, 2020 saw a 9 percent increase with 7,570 cases in 2019 and 8,272 in 2020.

The report also states that there were 613 cases of sexual harassment and 221 cases of stalking of Scheduled Caste women recorded in 2020. In addition to this, there were 336 cases of sexual assault on Dalit children. 195 sexual harassment cases were registered in 2020 against Scheduled Tribe women.

Last year has also recorded 28 cases of social boycott and 172 cases of murder of Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe members.

Related:

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Uttar Pradesh: Where women live in fear

76 deaths in police custody, 20 human rights violation cases registered against Police: NCRB report

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Amid the intense chaos posed by the ubiquitous nature of Covid-19, India is still at the top in crimes against women. Whether it is domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape, abduction or anything related to crimes against women and girls the loopholes of security factors can be clearly dig up.

India is not completely coming out from the shock full experience of December 2013 Nirbhaya gang-rape in Delhi, the rape of a minor Bakarwal girl in Jammu. India’s conscience can’t say an easy adieu to 3-year-old girl child in Jharkhand, who was abducted from Tatanagar Railway station in August 2019. She was sleeping besides her mother. The culprits abducted, raped and most brutally beheaded the little one. After few days the headless body of child had found. Later the culprits themselves admitted the crime. Police could not find the head of 3-year-old girl. Readers can try to understand the depth value of each and every rape case that are happening in every period of time.

In this piece we explore the increasing crime against women in India in greater depth.

Death of a genius and her unfulfilled dreams

Recently, Sudiksha, a 20-year-old girl, who have received a scholarship worth USD 250,000 from Babson College in Massachusetts, United States was killed in a bike accident. She was riding a pillion on a motorcycle with her younger brother (though her family insists, her uncle was driving) and was on her way to her maternal uncle’s home in Bulandshahr. That’s when some men sexually harassed her and gave chase to the bike, leading to the accident. However, Uttar Pradesh Police have converted the case in to just an accident. Police officials says that the young woman and her younger brother were not wearing helmets. Thus, Police concluded that it was just a vehicular accident. However, the victim’s family claimed that she had faced ‘eve-teasing’ by two men who were travelling in another vehicle. Family’s statement is completely contradictory with UP police.

Who is responsible for the death?

Sudiksha was a high profile, promising and a meritorious student. There is a distance of 35 to 40kms from her home in Gautham Buddh Nagar’s Dadri Tehsil to her maternal uncle’s home. If they were not wearing helmets, and it was her minor brother who was riding the motorcycle, why did the traffic police did not stop them on their way? On the other hand, if Sudiksha had experienced sexual harassment, why can’t Women’s Commission and the police in the state take sufficient action against those who harassed her? Sudiksha’s uncle had himself disclosed that harassment or ‘eve teasing’ as it is popularly referred to in India, preceded the road accident. Family also pointed out that Police and higher authorities have not cooperated with them, and didn’t even provide ambulance after her post-mortem exam to ferry the corpse.

Sudiksha had big dreams. She wanted to be a successful entrepreneur. How may of us can imagine the worth of the scholarship she has received? Can you predict the value of hard work she put in for getting the scholarship? Where did we fail? Can we normalise the death of Sudiksha as just a loss to her own family? What is the point when a nation can’t provide security to women? Sudiksha could have been an inspirational figure for lot of hardworking students coming from middle class and low-income families. But this unfortunate incident may haunt them. It is going to haunt badly every educated Indian for obvious reasons.

You will say UP is not a safe place for women to live in. Then let us look upon a brutal rape which has happened in the most literate state of India.

Can Kerala forget the injustice act it done to Walayar minor sisters?

It was on January 13, 2017, a minor girl in Palakkad district’s Walayar found hanging at her home. Later after 52 days, her 9-year-old younger sister also found hanging. The autopsy reports reveal that the girls had been sexually assaulted before their deaths. The accused persons are still roaming around.

Opposition parties and women’s movement made strong criticisms against police for biased investigation and the excessive political party interference in the subject. The alleged rapists were charged with POCSO act for rape and abetting suicide. Most shockingly the accused persons are going scot free now. The victims’ mother argued that they are going through immense pressure to withdraw the case. Now if you visit Kochi you can see a sit-in-protest by Walayar minor girls’ mother.

Several attempts are allegedly being made to sabotage the case. Protests on this rape case intensified recently. Why can’t Kerala police do an independent investigation without any political interference in the case? The systematic exclusion of marginalised from mainstream is clearly evident in the case. A mother is waiting to seek justice by using sit-in protest as a weapon to wake up the authority. Why does everything have political leaning in India? If Kerala can’t ensure justice to the minor girls there is no point in calling the state ‘Highly literate God’s own Country’. In a state where marginalized women are not safe enough to live with their standard of living, how would we consider the state as ‘Fully Literate’?

Palathayi girl betrayed by teacher?

The brutal incident, a 9-year-old minor survivor from Kerala’s Palathayi was allegedly raped by her teacher Padmarajan triggered the entire state. The accused Padmarajan is a local BJP leader. What is more disturbing is that now the investigation is happening against the minor girl in Kerala High Court. Investigating agency have said that the child has a tendency behaviour of telling lies!

In July the accused got bail. On the other side ‘Women India Movement’ claimed that Crime branch is with the rapist. Even though Rape is a non- bailable offence under Section 375 IPC, this alleged rapist is now playing the victim card. It is very unfortunate to grasp the fact ‘Accused turning as victim and Victim turning as accused’. If you feel amazed at a moment just remember that you are living in India where political party influence can use as a weapon to normalise rape. Applying corrupted politics over rape culture is like adding fuel to fire. Can you imagine the psychological trauma that minor girl is going through?

Other instances

In July, a 3-year-old girl was abducted, raped and found dead in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri. The dead body was found in a sugarcane field. On August 14 and August 25 two more girls were found raped and dead in the same place. Reports says that by 20 days gap, three rape- murder case happened in the district. In one case the child was raped before being strangulated. Incident took place as a response of revenge between elders. In India, women and girls are being getting targeted as victims to solve their rivalry. India’s northern state Rajasthan has witnessed another brutal incident in April amid the prevalent chaos during lockdown. A 3-year-old found bleeding in Bharatpur district of state. The 20-year-old accused named Rohitansh Jatav is still roaming around outside even after the police has found him guilty.

In March another disgraceful incident took place when a 10-year-old minor girl was brutally raped and hurled to death from the terrace of a two storey building in Chennai. Recently a former minister, named Prajapathi in Uttar Pradesh got bail in a 2017 gang rape. He was in jail since 2017 and now got an interim two months bail from Allahabad court. A 40-year-old woman and her daughter filed a complaint against him for gang rape and making a bid to rape her teenage daughter.

Aranmula Covid Patient Rape case

At a time when Kerala has garnered praise for controlling Covid cases carefully, a Covid positive woman was allegedly raped by an ambulance driver named Noufal on the way to hospital. While dropping the lady to the hospital he threatened her, and apologised by telling not to share the incident with any others. Most importantly, every ambulance driver requires clearance certificate to enter in the job. Noufal had not even obtained clearance system certificate from GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) Pathanamthitta. The accused was carrying two women in the ambulance at that night. A middle-aged lady was dropped in Aranmula and the 19-year-old was taken to Pandalam by him and on the way, she was brutally raped.

The woman herself reported the rape attempt to a health staff when she reached morning in the hospital. She also had submitted crucial audio evidence against the accused which resulted to be a turning point in the case. Later the accused driver was arrested and removed from service. Opposition parties in Kerala demanded immediate action against the rapist. Another political game occurred when K Surendran, the leader of BJP Kerala opposes Government for not taking legal action against the rapists in Kerala and blamed Kerala to be a state where women are in dangerous condition. Ironically this same leader did not utter a single word and kept silence when Palathayi rape case was happened. The addition of political color to sexual harassment against women in India is a crucial thing to be checked. 

‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ – A Savior Initiative or a Soulless Promise

In January 2015, Government of India launched a productive scheme called ‘Beti Bachao and Beti Padhao’. The campaign aimed for the welfare of girl child in India. Reports says that the campaign helped in eradication of female foeticide to an extent. It aims to address the issue of child sex ratio. As for the campaign ‘a selfie with daughter’ hashtag was on trending during 2015 following worldwide attention to the trend. Government is taking care of ‘Save Girl Child’ and ‘Educate Girl Child’ campaigns. Thus, such an initiative is much needed in a patriarchal society like India. But the problematic question is that, does the implementation of BBBP work well in India’s rural and urban settings? We cannot say the implementation is proper.

What is the point of taking a selfie and posting it in social media if we can’t ensure proper security to a girl child in India? What is the possibility of ‘Women friendly environment’ if education is not protecting a girl from sexual assaults? Campaigns like BBBP is necessary but if we give the same awareness to men about the increasing number of rape and harassment cases against women that would be healthier.

In case of Sudiksha, India has lost a talented young student. Girls in India need effective security measures from the side of authority rather than a selfie contest campaign. Programs like BBBP should initiate schemes to overcome mental trauma that a rape survivor faces. Girl child protection schemes need to put a check on the tactical mixing up of politics in harassment cases.

Few days back, a news has become sensational when Kangana Ranaut, a leading Bollywood star got Y category security. The question is that like her, will all the women get the same respect and security in India? If not, privilege is becoming a factor now to decide a woman’s need of security. We should take into consideration the living situation of other women and underprivileged over here.  The mainstream political parties need to understand that if a crime against a woman takes place that is not their apt time to make use of vote bank politics. India cannot prevent assaults and crimes against women when politicising the issue always. What is the point of politicising here? The proper implementation of women safety programs may help India in reducing the rising number of assaults against women.

*The writer is pursuing MA Mass communication and Journalism at Pondicherry University

Related:

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The post India Unsafe: The escalating heinous crimes against women appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This goof up had many sections rolling on the floor with laughter as Congress pointed out the “true intentions” of the party on the issue of the safety for women.

In its manifesto, BJP mentions safety for women as one of its ‘key concerns’. But the sentence phrasing indicates the opposite.

The Congress was not one to let this opportunity slip away and had a field day on social media. It shared the screen grab of the manifesto and a tweet by the official handle read, “At least one point in BJP’s manifesto reflects their true intentions.”

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) called out the error, “”BJP’s ‘Sankalp’ to ENCOURAGE Crime Against Women”. It said, “.. @BJP4India However hard you might try, your actual intentions will come to light.”

Congress’s social media convenor Hasiba used the hashtag #WomenBewareofBJP as she wrote: “Dear BJP, Freudian slip?”

The BJP has released its manifesto just three days before the national elections. More than 24 hours later, BJP is yet to comment on the fiasco.
 

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Image Courtesy: AFP

At the core of today’s public discourse remains a very crucial issue, the increase in the crimes committed against women and children. The recently published report that categorises India as the most dangerous for women in the world should invoke a debate, not on its veracity (even though many want to), but on how to control the rise in crime; let’s accept that even if it’s not the highest in the world, it’s not the lowest either.
 
Over the past few years, a trend has emerged wherein the public seeks reform in the law; the reform as per the demands has to incorporate stricter punishment. The judiciary and legislature respond to the demands, and thereby provide the same.
 
The Delhi gang-rape case of 2012 is an appropriate example, when thousands of people assembled and demanded stricter laws and harsher punishments for convicts in rape cases. The government responded, the Justice Verma Committee made recommendations, and then came the Criminal Law Amendment of 2013. A similar situation arose this year, when reports of children being abused, raped and murdered came pouring in, and people sought stricter punishments for such inhumane acts against children. The Government responded by bringing about a law providing for the death penalty as punishment for the rape of a child under the age of 12. Lawmaking has never been a problem in India. In fact, we are more than happy to enact statutes, because that mitigates the public temper. 
 
In a recent ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the new law would ensure that crimes against women are reduced. This is not an isolated belief; many of us hold the same opinion and believe in the deterrent effect of law. 
 
What concerns me here is the notion that ‘punishment cures all crimes’–after all we love retribution. I do not disagree on the point of punishment, which in certain cases is the only way out, but we forget that the idea of ‘deterrence through law’ has proved to be a failure. I don’t think the accused in the Delhi case opened the Indian Penal Code to check for the offence of rape, and, finding that there could be no serious ramifications, engaged in committing the crime. Similarly, the perpetrators in the Kathua, Unnao, Manipur, and Mandsaur cases would not be concerned about the quantum of punishment that they could get if they would be convicted. In all these cases, the perpetrators proceeded without any sense of concern for the law, or to be precise, the punishments that the law provided.  Therefore, what we need to ask ourselves is whether a stronger law or stricter punishments help in preventing such incidents. There have also been observations that sentencing a person to death for raping a child may even drive the perpetrator to murder the victim to avoid detection.  
 
We have to return to the simple idea ‘prevention’, something that our law or policies don’t consider. We need to look back at our education system, at our social inclusion policies, and more importantly, the rigid adherence to gender stereotypes. We need to check this sense of hyper-masculinity that could be a major reason behind the growing crimes against women. As has been pointed out by Richa Sharma and Susan Bazili (2014,) law as a lone warrior is doomed to fail in addressing violence against women, and a multi-sectoral approach is required wherein civil society participation and social movements have to be at the core. 

Naveed Mehmood Pursuing Masters from TISS, Mumbai

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