After 13 days of a fierce battle for survival with massive internal injuries, the 23-year-old girl gang raped in a moving bus in New Delhi finally succumbed to multiple organ failure at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital. She had been moved to Singapore just two days ago after doctors at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital declared her condition “most critical”; and the Delhi government, fearing a public backlash, decided to send her abroad. The incident of Dec 16 invited massive public fury in the form of protests from young Indians, activists and students who brought the Indian capital to a complete standstill.
When this rape case of a paramedic student came to light, it was the sheer brutality of the incident which sent a chill down one’s spine. The woman suffered serious injuries to her abdomen, intestines and genitals due to assault and penetration using a rusted rod. The fact that a dozen men resorted to such brutality in complete lack of fear of the law has thrown open many questions which are seldom talked about and often ignored by our societies. This undoubtedly proves that patriarchy is still all-pervasive, and that women are seldom given their rightful place at home, at work or in the public sphere. Women are still considered second-class citizens and subjected to violence and abuse of the worst sort.
Where lies the fault? To my mind, it all starts at home first and foremost. As children, while boys are better fed, treated well and pampered, girls are discriminated against. Sadly, it’s the mothers and grandmothers who perpetuate this discrimination. Boys grow up with such an entrenched mindset and feel that it is their inherent right to dominate womankind. It is this machismo that is instilled in them which leads them to perpetrate heinous crimes against women. Boys need to be told from day one that women should be respected. This has to start from home and then in school. Gender sensitisation must be made an important part of the school curriculum. But the problem runs deeper as what do we do with those rapes which we seldom see? Most rape cases in reality go unnoticed, and in fear of the social stigma attached to rape, most victims do not opt for an FIR. It is thus the mindset of the people which needs to change.
The Delhi case has shown some cleavages in our societies as South Asian societies are hardly different from each other. The first is the failure of the governance system in our countries. Governments cannot guarantee security to women even at 9 pm, the time when this particular rape incident took place in the heart of Delhi. Law and order has deteriorated, and criminals have no fear of the law. Second, the handling of the protestors by the Indian government was deplorable. The authorities came down heavily on the peaceful protestors by using tear gas, water cannons and even lathi charge. It later blamed the death of a constable on the angry mob whereas the real reason for his death was said to be cardiac arrest. A probe is still on.
The fact is that the crime rate in New Delhi is the highest in South Asia, and rape cases have steadily been on the rise. According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, the number of rape cases in India soared a startling 873.3 percent, from 2,487 in 1971 to 24,206 in 2011. In comparison, murder cases increased 250 percent over an even longer period, six decades, starting from 1953 to 2011.
In addition, women also suffer at the hands of the very people who are meant to protect them. The case of the 21-year-old Nepali migrant worker, who was robbed by immigration officials upon her arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu from Saudi Arabia and subsequently “raped” by a police constable, is testimony to this. After all, the policemen are the product of the same society that is reluctant to respect women and wants to maintain control over them. Moreover, the criminal justice system is retarded. The judiciary is extremely slow and over burdened. There is an urgent need to fast track such ghastly cases on a priority basis. Only justice delivery can be a proper deterrent to such crimes against women.

The Delhi case also threw light on the class of politicians and bureaucrats that run India. While there was no official comment from the president or the prime minister for three days, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde compared the protectors to Maoist fighters. President Pranab Mukherjee’s son called the women protestors “dainted and painted” ladies. It was only when the situation got worse that the Indian PM made a statement. It took the girl’s death for President Mukherjee to call her a “brave soul”. It is not the responsibility of the political class to reach out to the grieving and those suffering? Also, there was no shortage of people pointing their finger at the victim in Delhi stating “what was she doing so late at night?” and “women invite rape”. These are ridiculous arguments as what clothes one wears or what one chooses to be is a matter of right The incident, meanwhile, also shows a divide in India and also elsewhere — the cleavage between liberals and those who prefer the status quo and like to stick to conventional views. The liberals in India, for instance, want fast changes. But there is an irony in that too. The same liberals who want women’s rights guaranteed are also calling for capital punishment, castration and other severe means of punishing the guilty. While justice should be delivered at the earliest in such cases, capital punishment is not a real deterrence. The actual fight should be changing the attitude towards women, starting from the top to the most interior parts. This is what every woman wants. According to a report, a woman is raped every hour in Nepal. When will we say enough is enough?

Shah is an associate fellow, Observer Research Foundation, a Delhi-based think tank