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Trigger Warning: Rape, Sexual Violence, and Violence
Delhi 2012 is the case of Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old woman who boarded a bus in Delhi in December 2012 with her friend. What occurred on the bus was horrific as the six men already on board beat her friend and gang-raped Singh before throwing both off the moving bus. Two weeks later, she passed away from her injuries.
Delhi came to a standstill as thousands of protesters took to the streets to defend Singh and demanded better safety for women. This case drew international attention, created a national debate surrounding women’s treatment in the country, and led to new anti-rape laws and the execution of the four perpetrators. One would assume these changes would mean that gender-based sexual violence would be on the decline in India, but this is far from the truth.
Statistically, India is Getting A Lot Worse
In August 2024, India faced another shocking case of extreme violence as a young doctor in Kolkata was raped and murdered in a government-run hospital. Like with Delhi 2012, this sparked national protests calling for improved safety measures for women.
Unfortunately, many gender-based sexual violence cases go unreported and receive little to no media coverage. For several years now, gender-based sexual violence and overall violence against women have increased. Data from India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that violence against women has increased by 31% from 2014 to 2022. For reported rape cases in particular, the number rarely fell below 30,000 per year and surpassed 31,000 in 2022. However, according to India’s National Family Health Survey, upwards of 80% of women never report sexual violence, which means the actual figure is much higher than official statistics.
Why is Gender-Based Sexual Violence So Common?
Although sexual violence transcends social class, an overwhelming number of women targeted in India are from low-income communities and lower-caste families — namely Dalit women. Caste is a form of social stratification which places Dalits at the bottom. Dalit women make up about 16% of the country’s population and are often exploited by higher-caste men. The reason for targeting Dalit women is due to poor economic circumstances and the active discrimination they face from society, all of which leave them vulnerable to harm.
The Hathras Case is one example of the caste system and discrimination from society perpetuating harm. In 2020, four upper-caste men in Hathras, a small town in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh gang-raped and killed Asha, a teenage Dalit girl. When Asha’s family went to the police station to file a report, the police significantly delayed the process. To make matters worse, police cremated her body despite her family’s protests to cover up evidence of sexual violence. Only one of the four men were found guilty of culpable homicide. This case emphasized the vulnerability Dalit women face at the hands of upper-caste men and systemic discrimination.
Victim blaming is also a predominant reason behind gender-based sexual violence. According to the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton, victim blaming is “questioning people who experience violence — especially sexual violence — about their actions, and what they could have done to prevent it, or worse, invite it.” It includes putting the onus on the victim for what happened as opposed to the perpetrator.
Unfortunately, victim blaming is common all over the world. In India, an example of victim blaming is when a spiritual leader commented on the Delhi 2012 case, saying that if Singh had prayed, then nothing would have happened. Victim blaming shifts accountability from the perpetrator and reinforces rape culture (where sexual violence is normalized), thus allowing further abuse to occur.
What is India Doing to Combat Gender-Based Sexual Violence?
1972 saw a historic moment in women’s rights in India when Mathura, a 16-year-old girl, took two police officers to court for sexual violence. However, in 1979, the Supreme Court found the perpetrators in this case not guilty, mostly due to policies that placed the onus on the survivor to prove that sexual violence occurred. There were massive outcries following this verdict, which led to India enacting several amendments. These amendments included a publicity ban on releasing the victim’s name, believing the victim in court if they said they did not provide consent, and shifting the burden of proof to the perpetrator.
Following Delhi 2012, several amendments were also made. Some of these amendments include: broadening the definition of rape to include voyeurism, stalking, and acid attacks, making threats of sexual violence a crime, as well as making the character of a victim irrelevant to the ruling. Furthermore, following a horrific case of politically-motivated sexual violence committed against Asifa, an 8-year-old Muslim girl in Kathua, a town in the disputed Kashmir region, a bill was enacted introducing the death penalty for the raping of a girl under 12.
Why are Policies Not Working?
Despite all these amendments, India is continuing to witness a rise in the number of gender-based sexual violence cases. A negligent justice system is one of the main reasons behind this unfortunate trend. In many communities across India, police have been irresponsible or have even outright refused to file reports about sexual violence and have offered survivors no support. A study finds that out of 40 sexual violence cases that have resulted in acquittals, more than half were due to failure on the police’s part to conduct proper investigations. These cases not only represent police failure but also discourage other victims from coming forward.
There is also an alarming lack of protection for survivors. In the case of a minor in Unnao, who filed a case against sexual violence by several men, she was provided no protections when the accused were released on bail, posing a serious threat to her safety. Two of the accused organized a mob arson attack on the survivor’s home to try and kill the infant born after the rape to erase evidence of rape. The victim’s father revealed that the family faced threats to withdraw the case or face dire consequences.
In yet another case in Unnao, a victim was burned alive on her way to court by her perpetrators, one of whom was released on bail. Due to India’s lengthy court processes, perpetrators are granted bails resulting in these now-free perpetrators threatening survivors and witnesses. Lack of victim protections and long trials are two of the main reasons that deter most survivors from taking their case to court.
It is also worth pointing out that many sexual violence policies and amendments are not inclusive. According to Amnesty International, marital rape is still legal in India, given that the wife is over 15 years of age, which likely makes up a sizeable portion of unreported gender-based sexual violence cases.
Furthermore, laws addressing sexual violence do not apply equally across genders. On July 1, 2024, India replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The BNS has made a few positive changes in some aspects. For example, it expanded the definition of perpetrators of voyeurism from “men” to “whoever.” However, it still falls short in providing adequate protection for men and transgender people, as sexual assault against them is now treated as a less severe offence, indicating that further reforms are needed to ensure comprehensive legal protection.
How can India Improve Women’s Rights Going Forward?
Although India has enacted tougher punishments for gender-based sexual violence cases, like the death penalty, this has not enacted meaningful change. So far, tough sentences are not a good deterrent as sexual violence cases in India have continued to increase, and judges have become reluctant to convict perpetrators if they have to hand out the death penalty. Therefore, there must be proactive efforts to address the root causes of gender-based sexual violence in society rather than merely focusing on punishing crimes after they occur.
On a systemic level, it is possible to enact many meaningful changes. One of these changes is introducing sex education into the school curriculum and making it more readily accessible in daily society. Education is important as it helps youth make informed decisions about sex, sexual health, and healthy relationships in a non-judgmental setting. Sex education is also very important in preventing sexual violence as it informs youth about consent and respecting others. Furthermore, sex education implementation is vital among those who interact with survivors of sexual violence, including police officers, lawyers, and more. Sex education would help increase empathy, gender sensitization, and reduce victim shaming.
India also needs to make reforms to how police respond to sexual violence. Due to patriarchal norms, police officers in India have a reputation for oppressing survivors, which needs fixing. In a study by Human Rights Watch, they looked into the operations of numerous successful police institutions in the USA to determine what they were doing right. These police departments took the time to build trust with society, making survivors of sexual violence more likely to report by increasing support for victims and enacting accountability and transparency.
To enact these changes, these institutions implemented having a supervisor review all reports about sexual violence to ensure proper and respectful investigation of these cases. An officer is dismissed from their department if they do not handle cases with sensitivity. In addition, they increased transparency by allowing advocacy groups to review dismissed cases of sexual violence and child abuse and reopen the case if needed. They also encourage advocates, such as crisis counsellors, to sit in with survivors for support while giving their report. All these amendments led to a victim-centered approach in these police departments, and similar steps can also be taken for the police institutions in India.
The Role of Journalists in Preventing Gender-Based Sexual Violence
It is also important to recognize the contributions media and journalists make in perpetuating rape culture. Journalists have a responsibility in disseminating information to the public. As one study suggests, “people have worried that biased news coverage of rape may prevent victims from coming forward.”
One way of ensuring respectable coverage is by not framing sexual violence to “blame individual pathology for violence” but rather situating sexual violence in a wider nuanced approach that critiques social structures and institutions and suggests effective means to change. This includes reporting more consistently on sexual violence committed against all women in society and not just focusing on violence against upper castes. Additionally, it is important to analyze whether reporters need to include graphic details of sexual violence when reporting — in most cases, they do not. There are ways to frame sexual violence without delving into graphic details, which only promotes shock value.
Of course, these are only some suggestions that could help combat gender-based sexual violence in India. More suggestions that support survivors would include building witness protection programs and creating online safe spaces for survivors to connect, as recommended by the Atlantic Council.
Gender-based sexual violence and women’s rights are major topics that need attention in India. It is time that India takes serious action and shines a critical lens upon institutions and attitudes in society that further perpetuate rape culture.
Edited by Lubaba Mahmud
