India has long been notorious for its rape culture and being one of the countries with the highest rape rates.
Tonight, we take a closer look at the infamous Indian rape culture, and what prompted the Indian government to change its rape laws.
Warning: part of the content may be disturbing.
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Women, especially mothers, usually play a subservient role to men at home.
But it appears that despite their hard work, India can't be a sanctuary for them, thanks to the country's notorious rape culture.
Rape cases have been reported and growing.
The brutal gang rape of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus in December 2012 served as a withering expose of India's sexual violence.
On December 16, 2012, the 23-year-old victim and her male companion were returning home in the dead of night. They were lured to board a bus in which her male companion was beaten and knocked unconscious with an iron rod, and the victim, beaten with that rod and raped in the moving bus. The rapists were suspected to have used a wheel jack handle for penetration, which resulted in massive damage to the victim's genitals, uterus and intestines.
On December 29th, 2012, the woman died of her injuries. Six suspects were subsequently charged with murder, in addition to rape charges.
Initially, the police couldn't even find an iota of evidence as the suspects cleaned the bus after that incident.
But having scrutinised every inch of the bus with a fine-tooth comb and studied CCTV footage, Indian authorities finally had four of the six suspects' guilt proven beyond a reasonable doubt. And without a shadow of doubt, they were all sentenced to death.
Since one of the suspects was a teenager, he could only be charged as a juvenile. As such, the teenager convicted in the attack was released from juvenile detention in December 2015, while four of the remaining suspects were hung at Tihar Jail in New Delhi last year.
One of the accused, who was the bus driver, hung himself to death in jail back in March 2013.
From 2012 to 2020 - 8 years after that rape - justice was finally brought to the victim's rapists.
Much to our chagrin, the verdict and sentencing came too late. Adding insult to injury is the Indian government's lack of attention and action to prevent more rapes in the country. That had women's rights activists and the public convulsed with rage and launching into vocal diatribes against the government, saying action speaks louder than words.
That sent the Indian government down a rabbit hole.
In May 2014, several girls were found to have been hung on a mango tree in a village in Uttar Pradesh. They were believed to have been raped by two men. Although villagers demanded justice be brought to the rapists, the incident eventually culminated in the rapists' exoneration, as there was no evidence whatsoever to suggest the rape even happened.
Then, a rape case which dominated the news cycle in late 2019 again proved the lack of action and attention by the government in more ways than one. A veterinarian in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad was gang-raped and murdered by four men, who deflated her car's tyre, then posed as good Samaritans to trick her.
The fallout and outrage as a result of that case felt like deja vu for many Indians, as it was akin to the 2012 New Delhi gang rape on a moving bus.
Next, earlier this month, a 9-year-old girl was reportedly getting water at a faucet at a crematory in southwest New Delhi, when four crematory workers raped her and murdered her. And half an hour later, the crematory's priest called the girl's mother to tell her that her daughter had been electrocuted.
But despite having been leaving no stone unturned in the search of more evidence and witnesses, the evidence available wouldn't suffice. So, the police are unable to charge them just yet.
Knowing the four men raped a minor were angry villagers who were rendered irate, describing the rapists as depraved and wicked.
The Indian government did make changes to the country's rape laws, which had failed to keep rapists in authorities' crosshairs.
In the past few years, rapes make headline news not as often as before. Be that as it may, word has it many rapes went unreported, since victims are mostly too frightened to break silence, fearing retribution. That, many believe, might have belied abysmal facts.
Not only will a rape traumatise the victim, but it will also leave an indelible memory in the victim's mind.
It goes without saying, the inexorable growth of rapes in India is the concomitant of the country's rape culture.
As the adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care. Something's got to give soon. Authorities will have to bend their ear on rape victims, in order to make the country's rape laws effective for dealing with the country's high rape rate.
Suffice it to say, rape laws that can prevent more rapes are instrumental in making India a sanctuary for women.
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