The brutal rape and murder of the 31-year-old resident doctor at the RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata has sparked a global debate once again over safety of women in India. In addition, this time it has also thrown up yet another problem, safety of public sector professionals at work place, especially medical staff.
As far as safety of women is concerned, India has been black listed by foreign media and countries time and again, even issuing specific advisories for women travellers coming to India. From the rape of a woman biker in Jharkhand to the molestation of a Korean vlogger in Pune, Indian cities have become notorious despite these cases being isolated incidents which have received social media traction. However, what should concern the public and the governments of the day in India, Centre as well as States, is the growing number of cases of crimes - specifically, crimes against women.
After the Nirbhaya case of 2012, the country witnessed massive protests across the country and everybody joined, cutting across social divides and party lines, in demanding stringent laws, capital punishment, etc. According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), when the horrific Nirbhaya incident happened in 2012, police were recording up to 25,000 rape cases a year across India. The number in the subsequent years spiked and largely remained above 30,000, except during the Civid-19 pandemic year of 2020, which saw a sharp decline. However, the number of cases peaked to nearly 39,000 in 2016. According to government reports, in 2018, on average of one woman was reportedly raped every 15 minutes across the country. In 2022, there were more than 31,000 rapes cases reported.
There have been numerous cases that received media attention nationally. In 2018, a 26-year-old man in Indore was sentenced to death three weeks after his arrest on charges of rape and murder of a three-month-old baby girl. In 2019, police officers shot dead four men suspected of raping and killing a 27-year-old veterinarian near Hyderabad. Police said they were shot when they tried to snatch weapons from officers. Public celebrated the encounter. The 2020 gang-rape of a 19-year-old girl in Hathras district once again drew nation’s attention and her death weeks later in a hospital triggered nationwide outrage. Political heavy weights were prime accused in the case.
The list is very very long to even mention some of the most brutal and inhuman rape and murder cases.
Turn to Goa, just within the last year cases of teachers molesting students in school were reported and these girls stopped going to school while the teachers continued to remain in position until media highlighted the issue. The country should not forget the sight of the women being paraded naked in Manipur. And while even protests are being held across the country against the Kolkata incident, nearly 100 rape cases are being reported everyday in India. But these are cases that are being reported, the ones that go unreported due to family and social pressure is unaccounted.
Between 2012 and 2024, laws have been amended and punishments made more severe, but the net achievement of the course of action does not seem to translate into a sharp decline in the number of crimes against women. One of the biggest flaws is the differential treatment to every case. Sometimes, social, like the Hathras case, as the girl belonged to socially backward caste and the accused was from a higher caste. Sometimes political, like the BJP remained on the backfoot when Manipur was burning and women being raped because the party was in power. Compare this to the ongoing spontaneous protests by the BJP currently because it is the TMC in power in West Bengal.
On the other hand, every such incident is followed by “words of wisdom” to educate the girl child about a ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’, lessons in self defence, etc. However, the problem is much deeper and perhaps a decade of dedicated schooling of both boys and girls about good touch and bad touch, respect for each other’s gender and the sense of moral accountability towards being a better human, will bring a change for the future. In the meanwhile, the system needs to introspect the genuine efforts in bringing to justice the criminals involved in outraging women’s dignity.