Much has been written and debated about the BBC documentary, “India’s Daughter” and whether it should have been banned in India? After seeing the film and hearing the misogynist defense lawyers and the equally rabid rapist, being interviewed at length, I realized that nothing new was being filmed or said. It all happened on prime time TV in India and though we never got to see the parents as shown in the film, there were quite a few printed interviews that showed their love, their loss and their terrible grief.
The fact that civil society came out in huge protests all over the country and the Congress government was totally out of touch with the people of India and their genuine outburst of grief and anger is also reported extensively.
All this does not detract from the merits of a well-packaged documentary that in the end most of the public will see if they want to on social media sites.
The one astounding fact that did not come out in the film and should have is that rape is not India-centric and that men all over the world have a similar mindset. And calling Delhi the rape capital of the world, and India as a rapist’s paradise was again neither factual nor true. If Leslie Udwin was actually going to show the film on International Women’s Day than it would have been more pertinent to highlight easily accessible statistics that depict how very common and under-reported violence against women is the world over.
The only reason the Nirbhaya story became a worldwide sensation was because of Indians who rose in revolt against the violence and demanded new more aggressive laws against rape and quicker justice for victims. Other countries where such incidents have occurred have not had the same effect on its societies.
This has happened thanks to our very active media and civil society. But has it made a difference worldwide?
In fact, the countries with the highest rape cases in the world are (91.6 per 100000), Trinidad & Tobago (58.4 per 100000), Sweden (53.2 per 100000), Korea (33.7 per 100000), New Zealand (30.9 per 100000), United States of America (28.6 per 100000), Belgium (26.3 per 100000), Zimbabwe (25.6 per 100000) and United Kingdom (23.2 per 100000).
While, the annual rape rate in India has increased from 1.9 to 2.0 per 100,000 people over 2008-2012 period. Compared to other developed and developing countries, incidence rates of rape per 100,000 people are quite low in India. This could be due to unreported cases and there is concern about this aspect but due to a very active civil society and non-governmental organizations more victims are coming forward to register cases. This list does not take into account most of the Middle East and the war zones like Syria and Iraq.
If only Ms Udwin had shown the Nirbhaya story through the prism of violence against women worldwide, it would have been more honest and accepted.
A study done by International Business Times, UK, with official statistics reported that Lesotho had the highest incidence of rape followed by South Africa. In Lesotho sexual violence against women and girls is widespread at the rate of 88.6 rape cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011, according to a UN report.
“Unequal gender relations and belief in the sexual entitlement of men are entrenched in cultural and social norms, and the country has a very high incidence of rape. In the majority of cases, victims of sexual violence are silenced,” according to a research by NGO Kick For Life
The International Business Times report has other astounding facts such as Sweden, which has the highest rate of rape in Europe, with the UN reporting 69 rape cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011 and among the lowest conviction rates. All Caribbean countries (where comparable data is available) show a higher than average rate of rape. Forty-eight percent of adolescent girls reported sexual initiation to be forced in nine Caribbean countries, according to UNIFEM.
The report goes on to highlight even New Zealand where the “Roast Buster” scandal exposed the truth about rape in the country. A group of boys from West Auckland, calling themselves “Roast Busters”, targeted often underage teenage girls, plied them with alcohol and then gang-raped them. The videos of the sexual assaults were then uploaded to social media sites. Sexual assaults rose 15% in a year, and at schools the number doubled in 2012, according to the New Zealand Herald.
All these facts are not an attempt to play down violence against women in India. As a woman and a journalist who has covered this issue for 25 years, there is no denying the feudal and often medieval mindset of men in this country who regard women as their property but the fact is that this is changing and civil society is bringing about this change which in turn is propelling political will. This is one fact that makes India different.
Click Here For News Index