News Analysis |
Horrifying news about a minor girl who was raped by 17 men circulated on the internet and shocked everyone. Media reported that an 11-year-old deaf girl was mercilessly raped by a group of men who worked in the building she lived in. This incident took place in Chennai, India.
According to deputy commissioner of police for Chennai’s Kilpauk district, S. Rajendran, the men have been sexually assaulting the poor girl since mid-January up until this month (July). He also shared that before the girl was raped, she was sedated in the generator room in her building’s basement.
Initially, the girl was raped by a 66-year-old lift operator before others also participated in this senseless crime. The lift operator then allegedly invited the other men to join in the cruel act, reported India media sources. These men, aged from early 20’s to late 60’s, reportedly took turns to record each other raping the helpless child. These despicable rapists also allegedly assaulted her in multiple places within the building itself. Some of these places include the basement, terrace, gym and public restrooms.
The problem of powerful criminals is strongly present in modern-day India. There have been countless cases of criminals involved in heinous crimes getting away scot-free due to the connivance of local politicians.
In order to stop the girl from divulging the horrific crime, the sexual predators allegedly used knives to threaten the victim to keep mum about the whole ordeal or they would release the heinous videos of the assault, according to local police commissioner A. K. Viswanathan. However, a report revealed that the girl told her sister about the assault, which prompted the family to lodge a police report. As of now, only four of them have confessed to raping her and two have confessed of only molesting her. The victim has identified all of the men arrested as her rapists.
Television showed images of lawyers beating up the suspects on the staircase of the city high court as they were brought in. One cowered in a corner, trying to protect himself from the blows, while passers-by took pictures on their mobile phones.
Read more: 8 Year old’s rape in India, most dangerous place for children…
Crimes of sexual violence have been gradually intensifying in India, after the nationwide fury that followed the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi in 2012 known as the Nirbhaya incident. These atrocities have occurred despite the approval of the death penalty for the rape of girls younger than 12, and increase in the prison term for the rape of older girls and women.
On 30th June, The horrific rape of an eight-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur has sent shockwaves throughout of India. The horrifying atrocity has stirred massive protests. This latest outrage came at the heels of the confirmation of India as the most dangerous place for women in the world through a survey.
Initially, the girl was raped by a 66-year-old lift operator before others also participated in this senseless crime. The lift operator then allegedly invited the other men to join in the cruel act, reported India media sources.
According to reports the incident had taken place on Tuesday evening. The minor victim was waiting outside her school for her family to pick her up. The police said in a statement, that the accused identified as Irfan alias Bhaiyu (20) abducted her and took her to the bus stand area, where he raped her in the bushes near Laxman Darwaja.
According to the police, the accused tried to hide his crime by trying to kill the minor by slitting her throat. The accused had been arrested on Wednesday night. Amid shock and outrage over the ghastly incident, Muslim community leaders disowned the accused and demanded the death sentence for him.
Read more: Crimes on women: Third girl burned and raped in India
The approval of the death penalty for child rapists came after a particularly gruesome rape and murder of a Muslim girl in Jammu and Kashmir State, who was kidnaped, sedated and gang-raped in a Hindu temple. Reported rape cases in India have climbed steadily in recent years to about 40,000 in 2016. Many more cases are believed to go unreported. Child rape accounts for about 40 percent of the reported cases.
In the past two decades, India has seen a horrific increase in crimes against women. Sexual harassment in an ordinary women’s life has become a norm. Therefore, empowering women has become the main political agenda for all parties. However, these promises have fallen flat as time has progressed.
The horrifying atrocity has stirred massive protests. This latest outrage came at the heels of the confirmation of India as the most dangerous place for women in the world through a survey.
Many assert that the plight of women in India is largely due to a prevalent misogynist culture with origins in history. Analysts assert that the Brahmanical caste system perceives Hindu women as chattel and at best nothing more than a servant of the male members of family. Perhaps the most indicative of this were the practices of Satti or Jauhar which required female widows to be burnt alive along with their husband’s dead body.
Read more: Second India teen raped, set on fire: police
The problem of powerful criminals is strongly present in modern-day India. There have been countless cases of criminals involved in heinous crimes getting away scot-free due to the connivance of local politicians. The recent case of the murder of a rape victim’s father in Uttar Pradesh within police custody is seen by many as an indicator of rampant institutional corruption.
In the end it is a nexus of political corruption and social practices that have made India into a dangerous place for women and turned the abominable act of rape into a common occurrence in India.