Horrific record: One rape in every 20 minutes in India

India has ignited global concerns and public outcry for increasing assaults on women including some high profile rape incidences in recent months. In the latest incident late Monday night, a 30-year-old female American tourist was gang-raped by three men in Manali, a hill resort in northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

The woman, according to a report published in the New York Times dated June 4, 2013, was returning to her guest house after visiting a friend in the Hindu heritage site when she accepted a ride for the truck driver. The woman told police her attackers took her to an isolated area and raped her. She was sent to a local hospital for preliminary tests.

It has once again thrown the spotlight on women’s safety in the country indicating that India’s rape crisis is still out of control.

Last week, at least three cases of violation of women and girls were reported in West Bengal city of Kolkata. A woman lawyer has accused two police officers, who were earlier named accused in a death case, of molesting her.

A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 12-year-old boy residing in the same neighbourhood as the girl in the southern part of the Kolkata, police said.

The rape and murder of British teenager Scarlett Keeling, on 18 February 2008, brought international attention to cases of rape in India. A Russian national working in India claimed that she was raped by a Goan politician on 1 December 2009 after having dinner with him that evening.

The gang rape of a 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist on a bus in New Delhi on 16 December brought thousands of people on to the streets in protest. She died of her internal injuries.

In January, a seven-year-old was raped in a state-run school in Goa. In March, a Swiss tourist was gang-raped while on a camping trip in a forest in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. The 39-year-old woman was gang-raped in front of her husband at a village in Datia District where they decided to camp for a night.

In the same month, a British woman jumped off her hotel balcony in Uttar Pradesh state to escape a possible sexual assault.

A South Korean woman was molested by a youth in a running bus on March 25. And in April, a four-year-old rape victim died while being treated in a hospital in Nagpur.

Police are investigating the alleged rape of a 21-year-old Irish woman last weekend. The victim is an engineering student in an institute in Ireland and is working at a Darjeeling-based NGO.

The incident added to Kolkata’s growing list of crimes against foreigners.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau more than 24,200 rapes were reported in India in 2011 – one every 20 minutes.

The capital, New Delhi, has the highest number of sex crimes among major cities, with a rape reported on average every 18 hours, according to police records.

The National Crime Records Bureau figures of 2011 also reveal that West Bengal recorded the second highest number of rapes (2363) only after Madhya Pradesh.

Records show that rape cases in India have doubled between 1990 and 2008., lthough experts agree that the number of unreported cases is much higher.

In Jammu and Kashmir, there have been allegations of rape and mass rape being carried out by both Indian armed forces and militant groups. In 1991, the 4 Rajputana Rifles unit are alleged to have entered the village of Kunan Poshpora and raped about 100 women aged between 13 and 70.

The Indian government carried out three inquiries into the allegations and concluded that it had been a hoax.

However, the International Commission of Jurists have stated that though the attacks had not been proven beyond a doubt, there was credible evidence that it had happened. In 2011, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) asked for the reopening of the case.

Human rights groups allege that the Indian armed forces under the protection of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 have carried out a large number of rapes in the Nagaland, Assam and Manipur provinces.

In 2011 number of brutal assaults on women were reported in Uttar Pradesh and according to the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the majority of those assaulted were poor women from remote areas and Dalits. SR Darapuri vice president of the PUCL stated, “I analysed the rape figures for 2007 and I found that 90 per cent of the victims were Dalits and 85 p3r cent of Dalit rape victims were underage girls.”

According to a BBC report in February 2013, more than 7,200 children are raped each year in India. Underage victims who do report the assaults are often subjected to mistreatment and humiliation from the police.

A landmark government survey in 2007 revealed that the vast majority of children in India are physically abused and that such occurrences are ?disturbingly common?.

“Women should observe stringent security precautions, including avoiding use of public transport after dark without the company of known and trustworthy companions,” according to a US state department travel advisory for India.

Violence against women, and the huge publicity generated by recent attacks here, is threatening India’s $17.7 billion tourism industry.

A new study shows tourism has plunged, especially among women, since a 23-year-old Indian student was raped on a New Delhi bus and later died from her injuries — a case that garnered worldwide publicity.

Concerns only grew after the reported gang rape of a Swiss woman in central India last month and after a British woman jumped out of her hotel room window fearing the manager was trying to break into her room to sexually assault her. That incident happened in Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, one of India’s chief tourist attractions.

Source: Weekly Holiday