THE RAPE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

Whenever the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, addresses his Nation, he always invites the citizens to change their mentality towards women and to fight misogyny.

Even if rapes are condemned in India, data shows that crimes against women remain persistent, or better say, rise every year. Something surprising is that only in 2020, VAW (Violence against women) cases decreased as the entire nation was forced to stay at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, on the other hand, something shameful is that in 2021 India recorded the highest number of crimes against women. Most of these cases were kidnappings and abduction, rapes, domestic violence, sexual and street harassment, menstruation stigmatisation, lack of access to hygiene products, dowry-related violence, forced marriage, digital harassment, cyberviolence, marital rape, lack of access to justice and survivor-centred support systems, dowry deaths and assaults. Also, 107 women were acid-attacked, 1,580 women were trafficked, 15 girls were sold, and 2,668 women were victims of cybercrimes. Cases of kidnappings are linked to murder, ransom, trafficking for prostitution and domestic work or also to ‘’convince her for marriage’’. Violence inside the home is mostly recorded under the legal term of "cruelty by husband or his relatives'' and it has consistently been the most reported violent crime against women in India. What’s worse is that more than 40% women and 38% men told it was okay for a man to beat his wife if she disrespected her in-laws, neglected her home or children, went out without telling him, refused sex or didn't cook properly. Even though India outlawed dowries in 1961, there is still the centuries-old tradition of the bride's family gifting cash, gold, and other expensive items to the groom's family. Also, today new brides are often harassed for not bringing in sufficient dowry and thousands are killed by their husbands and in-laws every year, and most are burnt to death and the murders are passed off as "kitchen accidents".

With tens of thousands of rape cases reported annually, India has earned the tag "The rape capital of the world". It's not because India is an exception, as many other countries report equal or higher numbers of rapes, but critics say that the world's largest democracy gets a bad name because the victims and survivors are stigmatised by the society, and often shamed by the police and judiciary too.

- Sonia Singh 5^AL