June 23, 2017

New Delhi - the gang rape capital of India

located:	India
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

There was a massive hue and cry all over India in fact the whole world following the infamous 2012 Delhi gang rape case of gang rape and fatal assault. It occurred on 16 December 2012 in South Delhi.

The incident took place when a 23-year-old female student was beaten, gang raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was traveling with her friend. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. Eleven days after the assault, she was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment, but died from her injuries two days later.

Back then, one of India’s iconic film stars Shah Rukh Khan publicly said: "I am so sorry that I am a part of this society and culture", and "I am so sorry that I am a man". Khan said in a message that rape embodies sexuality as our culture and society has defined it. He along with bulk of the country’s top leaders, officials and civil society activists promised to fight this menace, but the capital city of the world’s largest democracy remains ‘rape capital of India’.

On this Tuesday June 20, 2017, a woman who was allegedly raped by three men in a moving car on the outskirts of Delhi was driven through several parts of the capital and its suburbs before she was she was thrown from the car onto the road. This was followed by another case reported on same day about a 24-year-old woman allegedly raped in a car parked at a famous south Delhi mall.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2013 annual report, 24,923 rape cases were reported across India in 2012. Out of these, 24,470 were committed by someone known to the victim (98% of the cases). The capital city reported 1,813 rapes in 2014, up from 1,441 in 2013. While Delhi continues to lead other big cities in the number of reported rapes, the increase in reported cases has tapered after a sharp spike in 2013.

With fast growing economy and rapid modernization, India badly needs to take care of its social values and needs to eliminate this taboo that has adversely tarnished the image of its capital New Delhi.