Rapes and India

Not a day passes when the national press and TV tell us that a rape has taken place. the sad part is that anybody from the age of 3 to 75 is the victim of rape, with the latest being a 72 year old nun being gangraped by  some thugs in West Bengal. Reading all this one may conclude that india is a land of rapists. The Western press  likes nothing better than to portray that India is a country where every woman gets raped.

I have to read all this with a touch of regret, for the facts speak otherwise.The incidence of reported rapes in India are among the lowest in the world. Compared to other developed and developing countries, reported rapes per 100,000 people are quite low in India. India has been characterized as one of the "countries with the lowest per capita rates of rape".If figures have a meaning than here they are

One can see that countries that have 'free sex' are more prone to rape like Sweden which heads the table.
The fact is that is girl in the UK or USa has much greater chance of getting raped than in India. The only country with a lower rape rate than India is Japan. So friends let's not go overboard about rape in India. Rape is a heinous crime, but India is not the home of all rapists.

Lynching of a Rapist in Imphal and the "Movie Daughters of India"

Two incidents have shaken India as never before  and both incidents concern crime against women. Firstly, one can remember the ghastly  gang rape and murder of a a 23 year old girl in a moving bus in Delhi on 16 december 2 years back. The rapists have still not been  executed despite the high court and trial court having awarded the death sentence.  The Supreme Court has no time to decide their appeal which is pending for over a year. This is the state of justice in india
On top of this a film 'daughters of India " has been made by a British national with interviews the rapists murderers  now in Tihar jail. Now Tihar jail is a high security central prison and this lady producer was allowed to make a film by the then Congress government. Necessary permissions were accorded , why ? I cannot fathom.
In connection with this is a incident in Dimapur a fairly large city in Nagaland. Here a rapist was pulled out from the jail  by a large crowd of some 2000 persons and lynched to death. Perhaps exasperated with the law, the crowd took this step. It did not help that the accused was a Assamese Muslim and the girl a Naga tribal.
Both incidents are interlinked and the Supreme Court and government must awaken. There is a lurking undercurrent of exasperation and despair bordering on cynicism in the Indian masses. Firstly the rapists are not punished as in the December rape  case and secondly a rape accused is lynched to death. One must see that both incidents are interlinked. Such incidents also give anti -social elements a chance to exploit public anger. I wonder if the venerable Supreme Court is listening. It has no time to hear the december rapists case. Where is India heading ? I am afraid such inaction can only lead to more people taking the law in their hand. Delay also gives anti social elements a handle to exploit the people.  All I can say is 'beware'. the bell tolls for all.