Immolation, Life Threats & Other Dire Consequences Women Reporting Sexual Assault Face In India

India has a rape problem, but there＊s a bigger problem than that too 每 the threats and consequences women face when they decide to report the crime and fight against the perpetrators.

Rape cases often take an ugly turn when rape and assault survivors take the route of judicial system and file a case against their perpetrators. They are often threatened to withdraw the case, if at all they survive the assault. In many cases, the victims are killed. In case they are left alive, the family is apprehensive to report the crime due to the stigma that surrounds rape and sexual assault in the country.

However, few daring women have challenged the offenders and taken the route of law to fight for justice.

One such case that has gripped the entire country is the rape and attempt to murder of a 19-year-old girl from Unnao, Uttar Pradesh who was allegedly raped by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in 2017. The girl was then a minor.

The case got media attention again when a speeding truck on the wrong side of the road hit the survivor＊s car who was travelling with her aunt and her lawyer on July 28. Her aunt died on the spot and the lawyer and the survivor suffered serious injuries. They are now fighting for life at Lucknow＊s King George Hospital.

The truck＊s number plate was blackened out giving rise to suspicion of Sengar＊s involvement in the apparent ＆accident＊.

Unnao rape case: Victim and 2 others injured after the vehicle they were travelling in, collided with a truck in Raebareli. More details waited. pic.twitter.com/n26TGoxpcK

〞 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 28, 2019

The girl＊s family had recently written to the Chief Justice of India Rajan Gogoi stating that they are facing threats from Sengar＊s henchmen to withdraw the case against the MLA, else they may have to face dire consequences.

The survivor, last year, tried to immolate herself in front of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath＊s residence, accusing police of inaction.

They even mentioned in the letter that Sengar used to call them from the prison he is lodged in since last year and issue threats to the survivor＊s family.

More often than now, the survivors＊ courage to speak out against sexual assault take a fatal turn.

In December 2018, two men accused of trying to molest a 20-year-old woman in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh set her on fire two days later after she lodged a complaint with police.

The woman was in a field near her home when the men, both neighbours and known to her family, accosted her and tried to drag her away.

She bit their hands and managed to break-free and escape and narrated the ordeal to her family. Her father filed a police complaint the same day. When no action was taken by the police, family lodged a second complaint.

The next day, the two perpetrators returned to the field where she was working, doused her with kerosene and set her on fire. She suffered burns to 40 percent of her body and was hospitalised.

BCCL

Police inaction is another reason why women fail to get justice in cases of sexual assault. They are often turned away and are victimised by policemen for wearing ※certain type of clothes§, being ※out of the house at night§ and ※inviting§ assaults.

In September 2018, a woman in Chandigarh filed a police complaint stating that＊s he had gone to a shop to buy school bags for her children when the accused, the salesman, took her to the ground floor of the store and offered her a spiked drink.

According to the woman's police complaint, she was unconscious but when she gained consciousness she found that the salesman was raping her while two of his colleagues were holding her hands.

However, the police, instead of registering the complaint and helping the woman who was allegedly raped, tried to force her to get into a settlement with the alleged perpetrators of rape.

India＊s National Crime Records Bureau reported 338,954 crimes against women 每 including 38,947 rapes 每 in 2016, the most recent government data available. That＊s up from 309,546 reported incidents of violence against women in 2013.

After a bone-chilling rape and murder of a young woman in December 2012, known as the Nirbhaya gangrape case, India launched fast-track courts and a tougher rape law that included the death penalty. But crime statistics indicate sexual assault on women have risen, not fallen, since then.

PTI

Even if cases are registered, crime statistics reveal that police files remain open for about a third of all rapes that were investigated for each year between 2012 and 2016. Activists have claimed that police often bows to pressure from local politicians and bury investigations, especially that are of rape and sexual abuse.

Often met with threats and dire repercussions, survivors withdraw allegations and cases of rape and sexual abuse. In a deeply patriarchal society such as India where it is deemed best to not speak up against sexual abuse, women and girls are often kept under tight control.

Additionally, it is extremely difficult to get powerful men behind bars for rape or sexual assault. In such cases, the complainant is often accused of being ※too easy§.

In such cases, it is imperative that law and order situation in the country is strengthened. Making stringent laws against rape and sexual assault mean nothing if speedy trials and ensuring timely justice to survivors can＊t be ensured.