India's Rape: '''The power of anger '''

OTTAWA CITIZEN

In a world that has recently seen governments toppled by movements that began on social media and with public protests, the angry reaction of Indians — male and female — to the culture of sexual violence in their country should not be underestimated. If rape and sexual harassment have seemed too deeply ingrained to ever change in India — where violence against women has often been shrugged off or ignored — the public’s unprecedented response to the brutal gang rape and death of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student is a sign that change will eventually come, as it must. India cannot become one of the world’s major democracies without basic rights and equality for all citizens — that includes political and justice systems that take violence against women seriously. India must listen to the growing chorus of voices calling the culture of sexual violence against women unacceptable. The reaction to the gang rape has already resulted in authorities at least appearing to take the issue seriously. Six men have been charged with murder. The victim, who has not been identified, had been waiting at a bus stop after seeing the film Life of Pi and, tired of waiting for the public bus, accepted a ride from the men who raped her. The assault, during which she was brutalized with an iron bar, lasted for hours. She died of organ failure in a Singapore hospital where she had been sent for treatment. Change will not be easy in a country in which the culture of blaming the victim is as deeply ingrained as is sexual violence. Rapes are frequently not prosecuted because officials argue the victim was asking for it or because she knew her attacker. Women who go to the police station to file a complaint are regularly urged not to, according to reports. And conviction rates stemming from rape charges have plummeted. Abhijit Mukherjee, a member of the Indian parliament and son of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, made comments about the protests that are telling about attitudes of those in power in India. He said the protesters were not students but middle aged and caked in makeup. He used the phrase “dented and painted” — one used by car mechanics — to describe them. His subsequent apology “to all those people whose sentiments got hurt by these sentences” suggest he doesn’t fully comprehend the growing public anger at India’s failure to properly address sexual violence. Failure to see the direction in which India must move will leave him and others like him behind.