Rapes in India has been described by Radha Kumar as one of India's most common crimes against women and by the UN’s human-rights chief as a “national problem”. Marital rape is not a criminal offence in India and is still widespread.
While per-capita reported incidents are quite low compared to other countries, even developed countries, a new case is reported every 20 minutes. According to 2012 statistics, New Delhi has the highest number of rape-reports among Indian cities, while Jabalpur has the per capita incidence of reported rapes. Sources show that rape cases in India have doubled between 1990 and 2008. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 24,206 rape cases were registered in India in 2011, although experts agree that the number of unreported cases is much higher.
Notable incidents
In March 2004, a 59-year-old Australian Brahma Kumari adherent Dawn Griggs was murdered and raped on her way to the sect's headquarters in Mount Abu. A senior homicide police official described Ms Griggs's killing as "savage". She was the third expatriate woman in a period of a few months but the first to be killed. Ms Griggs was carrying $8,000 to take to them when she arrived in India. Thorns were embedded in her palms and the soles of her feet were cut, indicating she put up strong resistance.
The Brahma Kumaris were founded in the 1930s and supported by a female leadership who believes those who are celibate and meditate will enjoy the fruits of paradise following the imminent destruction of the world.
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The rape and murder of English teenager Scarlett Keeling, on 18 February 2008, brought international attention to cases of rape in India.
A Russian national working in India claimed that she was raped by a Goan politician on 1 December 2009 after having dinner with him that evening. Shantaram Naik, an MP of the Indian National Congress, occasioned widespread disapproval, when he said, "...an alleged rape of a lady who moves with strangers for days together even beyond middle of the night is to be treated on a different footing." Mamata Banerji stated that free interaction between men and women today has led to these crimes.
The gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a public bus, on 16 December 2012, sparked large protests across the capital Delhi. She was with a male friend who was severely beaten with an iron rod during the incident. This same rod was used to penetrate her so severely that the victim's intestines had to be surgically removed, before her death thirteen days after the attack. In the 24-hour period after the gang rape of the victim, at least two girls under the age of 18 were gang raped and one of them was murdered.
The following day, there was an uproar in the Indian parliament over the incident. MPs in both houses had set aside their regular business to discuss the gruesome rape case and demanded strict punishment for those who carried out the attack. Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, demanded that "the rapists should be hanged". Thousands of people, mostly young, participated in a massive demonstration in 22 December in protest. Police announced that six men suspected of rape had been arrested. As a result of this incident, the government has promised speedy trials in cases of violations. It will improve the lighting of roads and public transport and there will be more police patrols to ensure the safety of women.
Software engineer Nayana Pujari was raped and murdered by her escort driver in Pune in 2009. Her murderer is still missing.
In 2012 Bikram Singh Brahma was accused of raping a woman in the Chirang district of Assam. He was caught by villagers who heard the woman's screams. He was stripped of his shirt and beaten by locals and was suspended from the ruling Congress party.
| State | Case Name | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Kashmir | Kunan Poshpora incident | 1991 |
| Shopian rape and murder case | 2009 | |
| Delhi | Delhi gang-rape case | 2012 |
| Kerala | Suryanelli rape case | 1996 |
| Kiliroor Sex Scandal | 2003 | |
| Soumya rape and murder case | 2012 | |
| Maharashtra | Aruna Shanbaug case | 1973 |
| Jalgaon rape case | 1982 - 1994 | |
| Mathura rape case | 1974 - 1981 | |
| Tulasa Thapa | 1982 | |
| Manipur | Thangjam Manorama | 2004 |
| Orissa | Anjana Mishra rape case | 1999 |
| Rajasthan | Ajmer rape case | ? - 1992 |
| Bhanwari Devi | 1992 | |
| Uttar Pradesh | Imrana rape case | 2005 |
| Tamil Nadu | Vachathi case | 1992 |
During partition
Main article: Rape during the partition of India
During the partition of India, rape was an extensive issue. It is estimated that during the partition, up to 100,000 women were kidnapped and raped.
Jammu and Kashmir
Main article: Rape in Jammu and Kashmir
Indian armed forces
There have been allegations of rape and mass rape in Jammu and Kashmir being carried out by both Indian armed forces and militant groups. In 1991, the 4 Rajputana Rifles unit are alleged to have entered the village of Kunan Poshpora and raped between 30 and 100 women aged between 13 and 70. The Indian government carried out three inquiries into the allegations and concluded that it had been a hoax.
The International Commission of Jurists have stated that though the attacks had not been proven beyond a doubt, there was credible evidence that it had happened. In 2011, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) asked for the reopening of the case.
Islamist groups
Extremist and Terrorist organisations like Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat ul-Ansar have been accused of carrying out rapes. The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front have been accused of ethnic cleansing by using murder, arson and rape as a weapon of war to drive out hundreds of thousands of Hindu pandits from the region.
Madhya Pradesh
In March 2013 a Swiss couple who were cycling from Orchha to Agra, were physically assailed by 8 locals, the man was overpowered and tied up while the 39-year-old woman was gang-raped in front of her husband at a village in Datia District where they decided to camp for a night.
The Supreme Court on 05 August, 2013 directed the Madhya Pradesh Government to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation each to the two school-going girls gang raped last year in Betma town of Indore district and issued show cause notice to a senior police officer as to why criminal case be not lodged against him for disclosing the names of victims in his affidavit, which is an offence under section 228A of the Indian Penal Code.
Northeast India
Human rights groups allege that the Indian armed forces under the protection of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 have carried out a large amount of rapes in theNagaland, Assam and Manipur provinces. In August 2013, a School Teacher in Arunachal Pradesh was arrested for Raping 14 Minor Girls in a Hostel where he was warden. The Sexual Exploitation allegedly continued for over 3 years, until one of the Girls filed a Police Complaint.
Uttar Pradesh
In 2011 number of brutal assaults on women were reported in Uttar Pradesh and according to the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the majority of those assaulted were poor women from remote areas and Dalits. SR Darapuri vice president of the PUCL stated, "I analysed the rape figures for 2007 and I found that 90% of victims were Dalits and 85% of Dalit rape victims were underage girls."
Crime against children
According to a BBC report in February 2013, more than 7,200 children are raped each year in India. Underage victims who do report the assaults are often subjected to mistreatment and humiliation from the police. A landmark government survey in 2007 revealed that the vast majority of children in India are physically abused and that such occurrences are ″disturbingly common″. In January 2013, a 7-year-old girl was raped in the school toilet while studying at school in Goa.
Young girls are trafficked into prostitution in India, often by women who have been trafficked themselves. As adults they use personal relationships and trust in their villages of origin to recruit additional girls. India is categorized as one of the ‘extreme risk' countries for trafficking children.
Legal position
in April 2013 the Indian Parliament introduced amendments to the Indian Penal Code making various changes to the anti-rape laws in India. The offence of rape under Section 375, have made both penile and non-penile insertion into bodily orifices of a woman by a man an offence. The definition is broadly defined in some aspect, with acts like penetration by penis, or any object or any part of body to any extent, into the vagina, mouth, urethra or anus of a woman or making her to do so with another person or applying of mouth to sexual organs without the consent or will of the woman constitutes the offence of rape.
The section has also clarified that penetration means "penetration to any extent", and lack of physical resistance is immaterial for constituting an offence. Except in certain aggravated situation the punishment will be imprisonment not less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine. In aggravated situations, punishment will be rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.
A new section, 376A has been added which states that if a person committing the offence of sexual assault, "inflicts an injury which causes the death of the person or causes the person to be in a persistent vegetative state, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than twenty years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean the remainder of that person’s natural life, or with death." In the case of "gang rape", persons involved regardless of their gender shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than twenty years, but which may extend to life and shall pay compensation to the victim which shall be reasonable to meet the medical expenses and rehabilitation of the victim.
Certain changes has been introduced in the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 and Indian Evidence Act, like the recording of statement of the victim has been made more friendly and easy, character of the victim is irrelevant for consideration, presumption of no consent where sexual intercourse is proved and the victim states in the court that there has been no consent, etc.
The age of consent in India has been increased to 18 years, which means any sexual activity irrespective of presence of consent with a woman below the age of 18 will constitutestatutory rape. Although, the decision of death penalty for the most extreme rape cases was approved by the Indian parliament, marital rape is still not accepted as a criminal offense within Indian legal framework, except during the period of judicial separation of the partners. In the 1980s, women's rights groups lobbied for marital rape to be declared unlawful, as until 1983, the criminal law (amendment) act stated that "sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age is not rape".The government officials argued that the contract of marriage presumes consent to sex and that criminalising marital rape in turn would weaken family values in India.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA) which came into force in 2006, provides protection against marital rape or other forms of sexual perversions and domestic violence. However, it offers only a civil remedy for the offence.
In April 2013, Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat noted that the legal principle of reliance on the sole testimony of the victim had become "an easy weapon" to implicate anyone in a case of rape. Justice Kailash Ghambhir of the Delhi High Court stated that penal provisions for rape are often being misused by women as a "weapon for vengeance and vendetta" to harass and blackmail their male friends by filing false cases to extort money and to force them get married.
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