Eclipsed by power

The incident of brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old female trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the night of August 9 has sent shockwaves across the nation, igniting widespread protests and bringing to light serious concerns about safety within medical institutions. Kolkata police have arrested Sanjay Roy, a 33-year-old civic volunteer with access to various hospital departments, after evidence, including a torn Bluetooth earphone, linked him to the crime. The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday (August 13, 2024) transferred the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). RG Kar trainee death has brought back memories of a 2012 case when a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern was gang-raped on a moving bus in capital Delhi.

2012’s gang rape and murder of a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern shook the country in what is now known as the Nirbhaya case. Literally translated from Hindi, Nirbhaya means fearless. Outcry in the form of protests and marches seized the country in the weeks following the incident. Arguably, this was a turning point in conversations about crime and the status and treatment of women in India, forcing it to the forefront. Even so, Nirbhaya continues to be one of the many names given to refer to the other rape cases in the country since 2012.

Citizens’ protest across India

Since August 10, doctors of different medical colleges across India have called for an indefinite strike demanding justice for their colleague. Thousands of people, especially women, took to the streets of Kolkata, on the eve of Independence Day, as part of a massive protest against the brutal rape and murder of the trainee doctor. Chants of “We want justice!” flooded the streets of the city as people gathered in large numbers with placards. It may be recalled that the ‘reclaim the night movement’ had begun in Leeds in England in 1977 to reclaim the freedom for women to move in public spaces in the night. The first march on November 12, 1977 came in response to the Yorkshire ripper murders. There had been protests to “reclaim the night” for women after the 2012 Nirbhaya rape and murder and also in 2017 when women marched in 20 cities after mass molestation of women in Bengaluru.

Involvement of the Supreme Court

Considering the gravity of the situation, the Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the rape and murder of the doctor in RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra initiated the hearing on Tuesday (August 20). The case is titled “In Re : Alleged Rape and Murder of Trainee Doctor in RG Kar Medical College Hospital, Kolkata and related issues.” The next hearing of the Supreme Court is scheduled on September 5.

India’s top court has said the recent rape and murder of a trainee doctor in West Bengal state has “shocked the conscience of the nation”. Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, who was hearing the case, ordered the setting up of a National Task Force (NTF) to recommend safety protocols for healthcare professionals at workplaces. He listed out a range of problems plaguing medical institutions, including a lack of resting rooms and toilets, functional CCTV cameras, security personnel and adequate screening for arms at entrances. The court asked the task force, which would include top doctors and government officials, to look into the situation and file an interim report in three weeks and a final report in two months.

Rising crime against women

Violence against women is a major issue in India—an average of 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022, according to government data. However, activists rightly argue that the true figure is likely to be much higher, as many such crimes go unreported due to fear of reprisal, prevailing stigmas around victims and a lack of faith in police investigations. “This is the new India where there seems to be a complete breakdown of the rule of law, which is directly affecting women most, as it is also a period of unabashed consolidation of patriarchy.” “We are seeing the worst phase of sexual violence and misogyny now,” Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties, told DW.

In India, cognisable crimes are categorised as either under Indian Penal Code (IPC) or Special and Local Laws (SLL). The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) publishes these two categories of crimes. The latest one, NCRB 2023, reveals that a total of 4,45,256 cases of crime against women were registered during 2022, showing an increase of 4.0 per cent over 2021 (4,28,278 cases). Table 1 shows the names of ten states /UTs where crime rate in India was very high. Again, Delhi has the maximum crime rate against women. All these states/UTS have a higher crime rate against women than the national average. Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, A & N Islands, and Madhya Pradesh have a female-to-male sex ratio of less than the national average. Though Kerala has a female /male sex ratio of greater than one it also recorded a very high crime rate against women. Low female /male ratio makes women more vulnerable. Majority of cases pertaining to ‘crimes against women’ under IPC were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ (31.4 per cent), followed by ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ (19.2 per cent), ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (18.7 per cent), and ‘Rape’ (7.1 per cent). The crime rate registered per lakh women population was 66.4 in 2022 in comparison with 64.5 in 2021.

Women’s safety in India

From banning ‘prenatal sex determination’ (to improve the female-to-male ratio by discouraging female foeticide) to encouraging girls to go to school and enter the workforce, attempts are consistently being made to improve the treatment of women. Despite this, Indians live in a society that has deeply normalised all levels of crime against women.

Table 2 shows the rape figures registered in India during 2005 -2022. Incidences of rape has increased steeply since 2012. From 24.943 rapes in 2012, the number increased to 31,516 in 2022. Attacks peaked at nearly 39,000 in 2016.

Table 3 shows the names of the Indian states with high incidence (>1000) of rapes in 2022. Out of eleven states, the northern state of Rajasthan reported the highest number of rape cases across India, at over 5.3 thousand. Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, ranked second that year. Bengal with 1,111 incidences of rapes ranked 11th.

Weaponisation of rape as a political tool

It is alleged that the ideology of rape as a tool of exercising power over political or other opponents, or as a weapon to advance one’s ideology through force has been imbued in the Sangh Parivar by none other than their adulated icon ‘Veer’ Savarkar. In chapter VIII, (titled, “Perverted Conception of Virtues’), of his book Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History, (English Edition 1971) he criticised Shivaji and Chimaji Appa for restoring back to the families the women of defeated Muslim and Portuguese governors. Since Shivaji did not allow molestation of captured women, Savarkar complained: “Did not the plaintive screams and pitiful lamentations of the millions of molested Hindu women, which reverberated throughout the length and breadth of the country, reach the ears of Shivaji Maharaj and Chimaji Appa?” (page 179). It is believed that Veer Savarkar remains a much-admired hero among Sangh Parivar followers. It perhaps inspired Hindu rioters to commit horrendous atrocities on Muslim women in Gujarat (2002) and Muzaffarnagar (2013), and many others.

The same explanation regarding weaponisation of rape is cited for the incidences of rape cases of Unnao and Kathua. In the case of Kathua, sexual violence was used as a means of inciting communal fear. What was all the more astonishing was the open support right-wing forces gave to the guilty, joined by ministers of the ruling BJP. In Unnao, BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was named as guilty among others. The victim and her family were forced to come to the verge of self-immolation to get the state to take notice and register their complaints.

The 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case who gang-raped women and killed 14 innocents, including Bilkis Bano’s infant daughter, were honoured—people touched their feet in the trial court. Analysts argue that the lack of remorse for rape may perhaps spring from an ideological basis. These 11 rapists were granted remission as a legislator from the ruling camp in Gujarat had said that the 11 rapists in the Bilkis Bano case (2002 Gujarat Riot) were ‘Brahmins with good values or ‘sanskaar’.

In addition to these incidences, the emergence of a horrific video that shows two naked women being paraded and molested by a mob in violence-hit Manipur highlights how rape is weaponised in a conflict.

Rape for retaining upper caste hegemony

NCRB data show, that in a majority of states, less than 60 per cent of cases involving victims from the Scheduled Castes were charged by the police in 2019. Moreover, only 40 per cent of such cases tried in court resulted in convictions in most states. Such low rates were observed in rape cases too. Notably, rapes in which victims were from the Scheduled Castes have increased significantly in recent years.

Statistics from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveal a disturbing surge of 45 per cent in reported cases of rapes against Dalit women from 2015 to 2020. Furthermore, data reveal that an alarming number of 10 incidents of rape against Dalit women and girls are reported daily in India. Dalit women are majorly the victims of triple-fold violence i.e., on the basis of caste, class and gender. Dalit women are oppressed by the people of so-called “upper castes” for being Dalits, by the rich and affluent for being poor, and face patriarchal oppression from men of all communities, including their own, for being a woman. The conditions of Adivasi women are not different.

The incidents of gender-based violence have their roots in the long-prevailing gender discrimination and patriarchy in the country, which cannot be addressed by the criminal laws or judiciary, writes Dubravka Šimonović, UN Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women, (December 31, 2020).

As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the incidents of rape (Sec 376 IPC r/w PoA Act) against SC women have been witnessing a constant increase every year. There had been a 49.87 per cent increase in the incidents of rape against Dalit women from 2015 (when 2,326 offences were reported) to 2019 (when 3,486 offences were reported). A total of 14,003 incidents of rape against SC women and minor girls were reported from 2015-2019.

Dalit women also face sexual violence at the hands of so-called “upper caste” men on the pretext of marriage, and minor girls are the easy prey of this kind of violence. This form of sexual violence is different from rape or forced sexual violence. Studies have revealed that links between sexual violence and castes exist. For secured and dignified life of women, caste-based sexual violence must be annihilated. The gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman in Hathras, a small village in Uttar Pradesh of India, yet again sparked a debate on links between sexual violence and castes in India.

On September 14, 2020, a 19-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped in Hathras district, Uttar Pradesh, by four men. She died two weeks later in a Delhi hospital. The victim was cremated on the night at about 2:30 am on September 29, 2020, by Uttar Pradesh Police without the consent or knowledge of the victim’s family. Hathras police arrested the four accused — Sandeep, Ramu, Lavkush and Ravi — on charges of attempt to murder, gang rape and violations of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. A group calling itself “Rashtriya Savarna Parishad” came out in support of the accused. The involvement of the police was also implicitly found in various media reports.

The real root of India’s rape culture

The real root of rape culture lies in the disregard for woman in a patriarchal Varna- and Caste-divided society which does not teach to respect a woman. By and large, society still considers a girl child as a liability. This is the only reason why the male-female sex ratio in India is 1000:940.

Three years after the horrific gang rape of Nirbhaya (2012), a new documentary depicted one of the rapists saying: “A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy…a decent girl won’t roam around at 9 o’clock at night.” “Housework and housekeeping is for girls,” he claimed, “not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes. About 20 per cent of girls are good.” If women are not “good,” he said, men have a right to “teach them a lesson”, he said.

This rape culture is not limited to the hardcore rapists only. It has spread its roots to the core of Indian patriarchy. A recent advice from two of the honourable High Court judges is a case in point. While delivering judgement, the judges had made several comments criticising adolescent sexuality. Among other things, it observed that ‘female adolescents’ had a duty to control their ‘sexual urges’.

Another curious example of India’s deep-rooted culture of rape is reflected in the popularity and socio-political power a few Indian spiritual leaders, convicted in rape cases, like Ram Rahim, Asharam Bapu, Swamy Nityananda et al, enjoy among their disciples.

Observations

In 2022, the majority of cases (31.4 per cent) of ‘crime against women’ under IPC were registered as ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’. It indicates women are most vulnerable in their own homes. The government must address this as a priority. Fake news on rape in social media is rampantly used to engineer perceptions of breakdown of law and order condition of the place of crime. It is also used to get political mileage during elections. Propaganda unleashed by a political party to engineer a communal divide in the Sandeshkhali block of West Bengal is a glaring example of the weaponisation of rape for political dividends. The unfortunate incident of an intern’s rape and murder in RG Kar hospital has the potential of getting weaponised for political benefits.

Views expressed are personal