New Delhi Protestors

Granny says hang `em by dey's gonads...
:mad:
Attackers in India rape case to face murder charge
Dec 29,`12 -- Indian police charged six men with murder on Saturday, adding to accusations that they beat and gang-raped a woman on a New Delhi bus nearly two weeks ago in a case that shocked the country.
The murder charges were laid after the woman died earlier Saturday in a Singapore hospital where she has been flown for treatment. New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the six face the death penalty if convicted, in case that has triggered protests across India for greater protection for women from sexual violence, and raised questions about lax attitudes by police toward sexual crimes.

The tragedy has forced India to confront the reality that sexually assaulted women are often blamed for the crime, forcing them to keep quiet and discouraging them from reporting it to authorities for fear of exposing their families to ridicule. Police often refuse to accept complaints from those who are courageous enough to report the rapes, and the rare prosecutions that reach courts drag on for years.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was aware of the emotions the attack has stirred, adding it was up to all Indians to ensure that the young woman's death will not have been in vain. The victim "passed away peacefully" early Saturday at Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore with her family and officials of the Indian Embassy by her side, Dr. Kevin Loh, the chief executive of the hospital, said in a statement.

After 10 days at a hospital in New Delhi, the Indian capital, the woman was brought Thursday to Mount Elizabeth, which specializes in multi-organ transplants. Loh said the woman had been in extremely critical condition since Thursday, and by late Friday her condition had taken a turn for the worse, with her vital signs deteriorating. "Despite all efforts by a team of eight specialists in Mount Elizabeth hospital to keep her stable, her condition continued to deteriorate over these two days," Loh said.

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How India treats its women
29 December 2012 - People have called her Braveheart, Fearless and India's Daughter, among other things, and sent up a billion prayers for a speedy recovery.
When the unidentified woman died in a Singapore hospital early on Saturday, the victim of a savage rape on a moving bus in the capital, Delhi, it was time again, many said, to ask: why does India treat its women so badly? Female foetuses are aborted and baby girls killed after birth, leading to an an appallingly skewed sex ratio. Many of those who survive face discrimination, prejudice, violence and neglect all their lives, as single or married women.

TrustLaw, a news service run by Thomson Reuters, has ranked India as the worst country in which to be a woman. This in the country where the leader of the ruling party, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, at least three chief ministers, and a number of sports and business icons are women. It is also a country where a generation of newly empowered young women are going out to work in larger numbers than ever before.

But crimes against women are rising too. With more than 24,000 reported cases in 2011, rape registered a 9.2% rise over the previous year. More than half (54.7%) of the victims were aged between 18 and 30. Most disturbingly, according to police records, the offenders were known to their victims in more than 94% of the cases. Neighbours accounted for a third of the offenders, while parents and other relatives were also involved. Delhi accounted for over 17% of the total number of rape cases in the country.

And it is not rape alone. Police records from 2011 show kidnappings and abductions of women were up 19.4%, women being killed in disputes over dowry payments by 2.7%, torture by 5.4%, molestation by 5.8% and trafficking by an alarming 122% over the previous year. The Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen has estimated that more than 100m women are "missing" worldwide - women who would have been around had they received similar healthcare, medicine and nutrition as men. New research by economists Siwan Anderson and Debraj Ray estimates that in India, more than 2m women are missing in a given year.

More http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20863860
 
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Vigils and cremation for young woman attacked...
:eusa_eh:
India mourns Delhi rape victim with candlelit vigils
29 December 2012 - The woman's ordeal has provoked an outpouring of grief and anger
Candlelit vigils have been held across India to mourn a woman who has died after being gang-raped in Delhi. Thousands of people gathered in the Indian capital to express their grief and demand justice for the 23-year-old victim, who died earlier on Saturday. Six men arrested in connection with the 16 December attack have now been charged with murder. The victim's body is being flown back home from Singapore, where she had been taken for specialist treatment. The rape triggered violent public protests over attitudes towards women in India.

Large areas of Delhi were sealed off and hundreds of armed police and riot troops deployed as news of the victim's death spread. During Saturday, large crowds people gathered at sites where public gatherings were allowed. These included the city's Jantar Mantar observatory, where people lit candles in the woman's memory. "We are aware that this is not the first case, nor will it be the last case of gang-rape in India, but it is clear that we will not tolerate sex crimes any more," Rana, a lawyer, told the AFP news agency. The victim's coffin, draped in a white flag, was taken to Singapore's Changi airport to be flown home, accompanied by her parents who were at her bedside when she died.

Over the past two weeks, the unnamed woman has became a symbol of the wider issue of how women are treated in India, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi. The Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore said the woman "passed away peacefully" early on Saturday. Hospital chief executive Kelvin Loh said she had suffered severe organ failure following serious injuries to her body and brain. India's Home Affairs minister, Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh, said he was "heartbroken" by her death. "I can only assure the family that the government will take whatever steps are needed to ensure that her killers get the harshest punishment in the quickest of time," he said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was "very saddened" by the woman's death, and that the angry public reaction was "perfectly understandable". He called on politicians and the public to set aside "narrow sectional interest" and work together to make India "a demonstrably better and safer place for women to live in".

Death penalty

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India rape victim's body cremated in New Delhi
30 Dec.`12 — A young woman who died after being gang-raped and beaten on a bus in India's capital was cremated Sunday amid an outpouring of anger and grief by millions across the country demanding greater protection for women from sexual violence.
The cremation took place during a private ceremony in New Delhi soon after the woman's body arrived in the capital on a special Air India flight from Singapore, where she died at a hospital Saturday after being sent for medical treatment. The tragedy has forced India to confront the reality that sexually assaulted women are often blamed for the crime, forcing them to keep quiet and discouraging them from going to authorities for fear of exposing their families to ridicule. Police often refuse to accept complaints from rape victims, and the rare prosecutions that reach courts can drag on for years. Security was tight, with no access to the public or media at the crematorium.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party, were at the airport to receive the body and meet family members of the victim who were on the flight. Hours after the victim died early Saturday, Indian police charged six men who had been arrested in connection with the attack with murder, adding to accusations that they beat and gang-raped the woman on a New Delhi bus on Dec. 16. New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the six suspects face the death penalty if convicted, in a case that has triggered protests across India and raised questions about lax attitudes by police toward sexual crimes.

After 10 days at a hospital in New Delhi, the victim, who has not been identified, was taken Thursday to Singapore's Mount Elizabeth hospital, which specializes in multi-organ transplants, but her condition worsened, with her vital signs deteriorating. Following her death, thousands of Indians lit candles, held prayer meetings and marched through various cities and towns, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata, on Saturday night to express their grief and demand stronger protection for women and the death penalty for rape, which is now punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. But even as thousands mourned the rape victim's death and in a sign of how pervasive such crimes are, police in West Bengal state were investigating another suspected gang-rape and death.

In the latest case, the family of a woman said she and her husband were attacked by six men as they returned home after working at a brick factory. They dragged the woman into a nearby farm after pouring acid into her husband's mouth, the family said. The woman was found dead with multiple injuries, said police officer Bhaskar Mukherjee, adding he was waiting for an autopsy report. No charges have been laid. Another police officer, Sugata Sen, said four men had been detained for questioning. The alleged attack is similar to the Dec. 16 case, where the woman and a male friend, who also has not been identified, were on a bus after watching a film when they were attacked by six men who raped her. The men beat the couple and inserted an iron rod into the woman's body, resulting in severe organ damage. Both were then stripped and thrown off the bus, according to police.

More India rape victim's body cremated in New Delhi - Yahoo! News
 
Granny says hang `em by dey's yin-yangs...
:clap2:
Rape victim’s family want attackers executed
Tue, Jan 01, 2013 - The family of an Indian gang-rape victim said they would not rest until her killers are hanged as they spoke of their own pain and trauma over a crime that has united the country in grief.
As the ruling Congress party reportedly pushed for tougher punishments for sex crimes, including chemical castration, authorities in New Delhi launched a hotline to improve safety for women in a city dubbed “India’s rape capital.” And while the country returned to work after a weekend marked by candlelit vigils and street protests following the 23-year-old’s death, few people were in the mood to celebrate the New Year. Even the army ordered a halt to its festivities. The woman, whom friends say was planning to marry next month, died of her injuries on Saturday in a Singapore hospital, nearly two weeks after being savagely attacked by a group of men on a bus in New Delhi. She was cremated on Sunday.

In an interview published yesterday, her brother said that although the unidentified medical student could now rest in peace, the family would not relent in their fight for justice. “The fight has just begun. We want all the accused hanged and we will fight for that, till the end,” he told the Indian Express. Six men are facing murder charges after allegedly luring the woman onto a bus in New Delhi on Dec. 16, and then taking it in turns to rape her and assault her with an iron bar before throwing her out of the moving vehicle. The man whom she was hoping to marry was also left with serious injuries after he too was attacked and dumped on the roadside. His father told the same newspaper that his son would be “in pain throughout his life.”

The 28-year-old attended the cremation on Sunday and has taken part in an identification parade for suspects at New Delhi’s Tihar jail, relatives said. The young woman’s father also spoke of the impact of the tragedy on the family, saying her mother was consumed by grief. “My wife had hardly eaten in the last two weeks,” the father told the newspaper. “She was exhausted ... I think she was not ready to face the shock of our daughter’s death, despite doctors always telling us that she was serious. She cried intermittently all of Saturday, but it got worse on the flight back home,” he said.

The father, who was also at his daughter’s bedside when she was pronounced dead in Singapore, said he too was struggling to accept the news. “It is too painful. I have not gone inside her room. She was born in this house. Her books, clothes, they are all here,” he said. The attack has led to widespread calls for rapists to be executed in a country where the crime is so commonplace that it rarely gets a mention in the papers. India does have the death penalty on its statute book for “the rarest of rare” crimes although executions are only occasionally carried out.

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was hanged last month, but it was the first execution for eight years. Rattled by the angry protests, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has ordered a retired judge, J.S. Verma, to lead a review of laws on sex crimes. According to reports yesterday, Singh’s own Congress party may propose in its submissions to Verma’s inquiry that rape convicts serve up to 30 years behind bars and that they be chemically castrated. Delhi police pledged that officers would frame charges including murder against the six suspects on Thursday once an autopsy report from Singapore and a forensic report are received, officials said.

Rape victim?s family want attackers executed - Taipei Times
 
Granny says, "Well den, hang `em without a lawyer...
:clap2:
Gang-rape suspects tried to run over victim: reports
Thu, Jan 03, 2013 - ‘IMMORAL’: Thousands of lawyers said they would not defend the six men accused of taking part in the brutal attack and murder in order to ensure ‘speedy justice’
A gang of rapists who savagely assaulted a woman on a bus in New Delhi last month tried to run her over after the attack which left her fatally injured, reports said yesterday, citing a police account of the incident. Her boyfriend, who was beaten up and thrown off the bus after the woman had been repeatedly raped, managed to pull her to safety just in time, police are set to allege in a 1,000-page charge sheet to be presented in court today. The 23-year-old female medical student, whose ordeal has brought simmering anger about widespread sex crime in India to the boil, bit three of her attackers as she attempted to fight them off, local newspapers and TV reports said.

These injuries on the suspects, as well as forensic evidence such as blood, semen and hair samples and the testimony of the injured boyfriend, are expected to form the main evidence against the accused, reports and police sources said. Five men have been arrested and are expected to formally face murder and rape charges today in a fast-track court set up to try them. Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Tuesday that the suspects risked the death penalty if found guilty and the case against them appeared very strong.

A sixth suspect is thought to be aged 17, meaning he would face a juveniles’ court, but he is undergoing a bone test to determine his age, a spokesman in the Delhi police control room told reporters. “The woman and her friend were stripped and thrown out of the bus,” the Indian Express reported on Tuesday. “Her friend pulled her away when he saw the bus reversing to run her over.” The Times of India newspaper said the charge sheet was likely to begin with details on how the driver of the private vehicle, who allegedly took part in the rape, got his group of friends together and set out for a joyride.

One of the charges against the accused relates to the destruction of evidence, the paper said, since the driver had tried to wash the bus and had burned the clothes that were snatched from the victim. The woman died at the weekend after a 13-day struggle to survive injuries so grievous that her intestines had to be removed. She also underwent three major surgeries and suffered a cardiac arrest before being flown to Singapore. The brutality and horrific nature of the attack has led to protests in the capital and elsewhere, and has prompted calls for the death penalty for the rapists. Meanwhile, lawyers hearing the case at the Saket District Court in south New Delhi said they would refuse to defend the men accused of taking part in the assault and murder.

More Gang-rape suspects tried to run over victim: reports - Taipei Times
 
You mean they don't want to live in the 4th century any more?

Whodda thunk that?

The Indians and the Chinese are going to learn a harsh lesson. If you want to live like us economically, you have to take the rest of the deal in the bargain. The whole Free Speech, Free Religion, Free Thought thing.

They MAY not like that, but they've made their bed.
 
Granny says we ought ratify it...
:cool:
India gang rape: Why US should ratify UN treaty on women's rights
January 2, 2013 - The gang rape and death of a student in India, which has sparked protests there to change cultural views on women, should remind the United States why it’s high time to ratify the UN 'bill of rights' for women. American criticism of the treaty is based on misconceptions.
The gang rape and subsequent death of a university student in India, which has sparked protests there to change laws and cultural views on women, should remind the United States why it’s high time to ratify the United Nations “bill of rights” for women. The US has demonstrated global leadership on women’s rights, but it has failed to ratify the seminal treaty on such rights – officially titled the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Only eight countries have failed to ratify the convention, leaving the US among Iran, Somalia, and Sudan. The Obama administration must move with urgency to ensure that the convention is ratified and end this embarrassment.

The US was a primary drafter of the convention, and President Carter signed it in 1980, but it has lingered in the Senate for more than 30 years. Opponents argue that it proposes a radical feminist agenda that gives a right to abortion and legalizes prostitution. This is a misconception. For one, the committee of independent experts that monitors the treaty’s implementation urges countries to decriminalize abortion – criminalizing it leads to unsafe procedures – but the treaty is actually “abortion neutral,” according to the US State Department. The convention does not enshrine a right to abortion. Countries in which abortion is illegal, such as Ireland and Rwanda, have ratified the convention.

Second, the treaty requires decisive action against trafficking and exploitation of women through prostitution, but the committee urges that trafficking victims are not prosecuted. That’s far from legalizing prostitution. Sovereignty issues are also a battle cry of opponents. The question is what interest does any country have in submitting to scrutiny? And yet most countries do. At a time when the world needs more cross-border cooperation and diplomacy, the US can afford to have its own record regularly reviewed. Perhaps most obstructive in Congress is the perceived lack of US interest in the treaty. So what are its benefits?

Far from imposing radical agendas, it has actually been an important source of constitutional, legislative, and judicial change for the advancement of women abroad. In Bangladesh, it was used to improve gender parity in primary schools. In Kenya, it was used to remove barriers to land and inheritance rights for widows and daughters. Afghanistan used it as a basis for a constitutional provision to guarantee men and women equal rights before the law. In 2007, the treaty’s monitoring committee urged India to reform its laws relating to rape and other sexual abuse against women.

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Dehli rape terror recounted...
:eek:
India victim's male friend recounts Delhi rape attack
4 January 2013 - Vigils for the young woman have been held alongside protests
The friend of a woman who died after being raped on a bus in Delhi has given his first interview since the incident. The man, who has not been named, told Zee News how he and the victim had boarded the bus and paid a fare, before he was beaten unconscious by men on board, who then attacked her. He also criticised police for their slow response to the attack. The woman died of her injuries last weekend, and five men are due to stand trial for her murder and rape. The five could face the death penalty if they are convicted. A sixth suspect is expected to be tried in a juvenile court.

The friend said the bus had tinted windows, and that he believed the group of men had laid a trap for them. "We tried to resist them. Even my friend fought with them, she tried to save me," he said. "She tried to dial the police control room number 100, but the accused snatched her mobile away." He confirmed earlier reports that the assailants had thrown them off the bus and tried to run them over.

And he also criticised the authorities, accusing them of being slow to arrive, then arguing over jurisdiction, and eventually taking them to the wrong hospital. "My friend was bleeding profusely. But instead of taking us to a nearby hospital, they [police] took us to a hospital that was far away," he said.

The incident caused a national outcry, and there have been frequent protests calling for greater protection for women. Earlier, India's top security officials held a meeting to discuss possible reforms. They have promised to recruit more women to the police force, and supply women staff to every police station in Delhi.

BBC News - India victim's male friend recounts Delhi rape attack

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What next after outcry over Delhi rape?
4 January 2013 - After the outcry over the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in the Indian capital Delhi, Indian commentators give us their opinions on what might follow in the effort to combat rape and violence against women in India.
V Suresh, human rights lawyer

Prosecution and punishment is only a small part of the solution. It comes after the crime. The challenge is to prevent sexual assaults in the first place. How do you change mindsets at a societal level, that too of 1.2 billion people? Gender sensitisation programmes as they exist today have by and large been tokenistic, they have lacked creativity and have had little impact on changing gendered mindsets. An entirely new programme aimed at changing attitudes and mindsets, social perspectives and institutional cultures should be designed at the mass level and rolled out, from primary schools through colleges to work spaces. Every year, village assemblies should be organised on 8 March, International Women's Day, as an open house where women could be encouraged to speak about issues of violence and sexual assault inside families and in communities.

Women should be invited every year to speak in special sessions in the country's legislatures on issues related to women's discrimination and equality and the way state policies and laws impact on women's experience of inclusion, equity, justice and dignity. One of the most shameful realities in India is the state-organised liquor business, which does much to fuel violence against women. The rationale that liquor revenues raise valuable money to invest in social welfare programmes is akin to dealing with "blood money" earned by causing immense family miseries and tragedies. State governments should immediately stop engaging in liquor business, introduce prohibition and ensure a total stop to illicit liquor. It is a long haul and a difficult journey for India, but changing the way Indian society treats women is in the end the only safeguard preventing violence against women.

Urvashi Butalia, feminist writer and publisher

One of the remarkable things about the recent incident in Delhi and the subsequent protests has been the media's restrained and non sensational reporting. This marks a break from the almost hysterical tone that has characterised reports on previous such cases. Whether it is television, or radio, or newspapers, there's been a tremendous amount of respect, and restraint - notwithstanding the calls for punishments such as chemical castration. The victim's name has not been revealed (the law requires this but in the past it has been flouted), the parents' privacy has been respected, protests have been covered with empathy, and there have been excellent articles in the press. The media has played an important role in this instance in channelling popular anger at the government.

It's hard to say whether this change will last but at least it has been shown that it is not always necessary for the media to be sensationalist. Will this also lead to some kind of change in the sort of representations of women that we see on television? Again, difficult to say - television serials do make the mandatory nod to social issues, include powerful women, and discuss things like child marriage, divorce or abortion. But they remain focused on upper class and rich India, the poor never figure, minorities are absent, dark people too, and caste as an issue is unheard of. Perhaps women's issues will get reflected more seriously, but unless media become inclusive in a much more real way, the chances of any real change may be slim. Nevertheless, I think it's important to note that there has been an attempt to take what were seen as "women's issues" seriously, and that's at least a beginning.

Priya Hingorani, Supreme Court advocate
 
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Rape Witness: 'No One Helped For An Hour'...
:eek:
'Nobody helped us for an hour,' Indian rape witness says
4 Jan.`13 - Indian authorities have filed rape and murder charges against five men accused of the gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus. Government officials have promised new measures to protect women in the nation's capital and the crime has sparked protests and raised demands for tough new rape laws. ITN's Geraint Vincent reports.
Passers-by left a gang-raped Indian student lying unclothed and bleeding in the street for almost an hour, a male friend who was assaulted with her said on Friday in his first public comments on the case that provoked a global outcry. The 23-year-old student died in the hospital two weeks after she was attacked on Dec. 16 in a private bus in New Delhi, prompting street protests over the Indian authorities' failure to stem rampant violence against women. The graphic account from the man in a television interview is likely to add fuel to public anger over the death in a country where official statistics show one rape is reported every 20 minutes. The woman's friend told the Zee News television network he was beaten unconscious with a metal bar by her attackers before the pair were thrown off the bus.

They lay in the street for 45 minutes before a police van arrived and officers then spent a long time arguing about where to take them, the man said. "We kept shouting at the police, 'please give us some clothes' but they were busy deciding which police station our case should be registered at," the man said in Hindi. Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told Reuters GPS records show the first police van reached the scene four minutes after it was were called and took the man and the woman to hospital within 24 minutes. Neither the woman nor her friend have been named. Five men were charged with her gang rape and murder on Thursday. A court is due to consider the charges on Saturday.

Twitter anger

The man's comments caused an renewed outpouring of anger on Twitter. "After reading and watching the Zee News interview i'm absolutely shocked and ashamed of being an Indian," said @BarunKiBilli. The man called on the protests to continue, but said he wished people had come to his friend's help when she needed it. "You have to help people on the road when they need help."

The male friend said he and the woman were attacked after an evening out watching a film. "From where we boarded the bus, they (the attackers) moved around for nearly two and a half hours. We were shouting, trying to make people hear us. But they switched off the lights of the bus," he said, according to a transcript of the interview. When they were thrown out, they pleaded with passers-by for help, he added in the studio interview, a blue metal crutch leaning on his chair. "There were a few people who had gathered round but nobody helped. Before the police came I screamed for help but the auto rickshaws, cars and others passing by did not stop," the man added.

Source

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India rape: Delhi court hears of forensic evidence
5 January 2013 - The case has caused outrage in India, with demands for greater protection
DNA tests have linked five men with a gang rape and murder last month that has caused outrage in India, a court in Delhi has heard. The pre-trial hearing was held at the District Court in the Saket area of the Indian capital. The judge ordered the five to appear before her on Monday. A sixth suspect is expected to be tried as a juvenile. The woman, 23, died last weekend. Her friend has been recalling the harrowing details of the attack on a bus. The man, who has not been named, told Zee News how he and the victim had boarded the bus and paid a fare, before he was beaten unconscious by men on board, who then attacked her.

'Robbed items'

Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan told Magistrate Namrita Aggarwal that DNA tests confirmed by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory had shown that blood stains found on the clothing of all of the accused had matched the blood of the victim. Mr Mohan also cited records from the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where the woman died, which said death was caused by septicaemia and multiple-organ failure. The five accused, aged between 19 and 35, are charged with rape, abduction and murder, and could face the death penalty if convicted. They include the driver of the bus. The prosecutor also said items robbed from the victim had been recovered from the accused. The magistrate said: "[The suspects] will be produced in court on Monday." A following hearing was set for 10 January. Protesters gathered outside the court in Saket, carrying a banner demanding justice for the victim.


Police 'argued'

The friend of the woman who died has given his first interview since the incident. The man, who has not been named, told Zee News he and the rape victim had boarded the bus after a trip to the cinema and after failing to flag down an auto-rickshaw. He said the bus had tinted windows, and that he believed the group of men had laid a trap for them. "We tried to resist them. Even my friend fought with them, she tried to save me," he said. "She tried to dial the police control room number 100, but the accused snatched her mobile away. "I tried to fight against the men but later I begged them again and again to leave her." He confirmed earlier reports that the assailants had thrown them off the bus and tried to run them over. The friend said he had tried to get help from passers-by and motorists. "They slowed down, looked at our naked bodies and left," he said. And he also criticised the authorities, accusing them of being slow to arrive, then arguing over jurisdiction, and eventually taking them to the wrong hospital. "My friend was bleeding profusely. But instead of taking us to a nearby hospital, they [police] took us to a hospital that was far away," he said.

Delhi Police on Saturday denied its officers were late in arriving. A statement said the first vehicle had arrived within four minutes of the distress call, left the scene with the victims within another three minutes and reached Safdarjung Hospital within another 24. The BBC's Andrew North, in Delhi, says the case continues to put Indian life under a sharp magnifying glass, and for many people it is uncomfortable viewing. Meanwhile, police have opened an investigation into whether Zee News broke broadcasting laws relating to disclosure of the victim's identity. The victim's friend was not named but his face was shown. Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told AFP news agency that a case had been filed against the broadcaster. The case has caused a national outcry, and there have been frequent protests calling for greater protection for women.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20920842
 
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Past rapes coming to the forefront in India...
:eusa_shifty:
The rapes that India forgot
4 January 2013 - There have been widespread protests in India since the 16 December gang rape
Last month's brutal gang rape of a young woman in the Indian capital, Delhi, has caught public attention and caused worldwide outrage. But here, the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi recalls other prominent cases which made the headlines, then faded from public memory. On most days, Indian newspapers report shocking new atrocities - a 10-month-old raped by a neighbour in Delhi; an 18-month-old raped and abandoned on the streets in Calcutta; a 14-year-old raped and murdered in a police station in Uttar Pradesh; a husband facilitating his own wife's gang rape in Howrah; a 65-year-old grandmother raped in Kharagpur.

But in a country where a rape is reported every 21 minutes, even these most horrific of crimes soon get forgotten - except by the victims and their families. They are left to fight their long lonely battles for justice which, more often than not, is denied to them.


Travesty of justice

One of the most painful and lingering cases is that of the Mumbai nurse Aruna Shanbaug. Sodomised by a cleaner in the hospital where she worked, the 25-year-old was strangled with metal chains and left to die by her attacker, Sohanlal Bharta Walmiki, on 27 November 1973. She was saved and survives, but barely so. For the past 39 years she has been lying in a hospital bed in a vegetative state, brain dead, unable to recognise anyone, unable to speak, unable to perform even the most basic of tasks. "He was not even charged for raping her," says journalist and author Pinki Virani, who wrote Aruna's Story, a book on the nurse's plight. So Walmiki was given a light seven-year-sentence for robbery and attempted murder.

In what can be described as a real travesty of justice, while a brain dead Aruna remains confined to a hospital room, her attacker roams free - out of jail and able to rebuild his life. Ms Virani told the BBC that she tried hard to track him down, but remained unsuccessful. "I was told that he had changed his name and was working as a ward boy in a Delhi hospital. The hospital where he had sodomised Aruna and left her in this permanent vegetative condition had never kept a photo of him on file. Neither did the court papers," she said. Aruna is not alone - her story is repeated with a frightening regularity across the length and breadth of the country.

India shamed

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Indian Police Charge TV Channel for Rape Interview
January 05, 2013 - Renewed protests against public apathy and police incompetence erupted in India Saturday after the boyfriend of the New Delhi gang rape victim recounted witnessing the gruesome crime. Police are refuting his claims.
The male companion of the Indian woman who died last week from her injuries sustained in the attack told the French news agency and India's Zee TV Friday that it took 25 minutes for anyone to stop and help him and his friend after they were dumped naked and bleeding on the side of the road. The man, whose identity is being withheld for legal purposes, also said that when the police arrived, they spent time arguing about who had jurisdiction over the crime and took the couple to a hospital that was not the closest one available.

The Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police, Vivel Gogia, defended the speed of the police response, telling reporters Saturday that police took less than 30 minutes to get the couple to the hospital after the distress call. "These findings have been ascertained through the logs generated by the multi-computer configuration global positioning system," said Gogia. The deputy leader of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, Ravi Shankar Prasad, condemned the police Saturday for their alleged delay. "The BJP would like to know as to what kind of teachings and training the government of India has given to its police in Delhi. Saving the life of critically injured people is more important or fighting over jurisdiction is more important?" said Prasad.

Indian authorities have charged five men with murder, rape, kidnapping and other charges in the December 16 attack. Officials say they will push for the death penalty if the men are convicted. A sixth suspect is under 18 and will be tried separately in a juvenile court. The two victims were both beaten with a rod on the bus. The woman was raped, and a rod was used in the rape. The unidentified woman died last Saturday in a hospital in Singapore, where she had been taken for treatment. Her father has backed calls to hang the men charged if they are convicted. The Zee interview marked the first time the man, who has not been named, has spoken publicly about the December 16 attack. Indian police also said Saturday they have filed a case against Zee TV because the interview could lead to the identification of the rape victim, breaking a law entitling her to anonymity.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has urged Indian officials to refrain from pressing the charges against Zee. Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator said "authorities are hardly protecting the victim's rights by retaliating against news media that are bringing to light details of the horrific crime." India has set up a so-called "fast-track" court to try the men accused of the crimes. The fast-track court is one of five being set up in New Delhi, known by some as the "rape capital" of India. The courts will hear cases of sexual assault and other crimes against women in an effort to bypass India's overwhelmed regular court system, where cases can often take many years to be resolved.

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Indian rape victim's father wants world to know his daughter didn't do anything wrong...
:cool:
Indian rape victim's father says he wants her named
Sun Jan 6, 2013 - The father of an Indian student whose brutal rape provoked a global outcry said he wanted her name made public so she could be an inspiration to victims of sexual assault, in comments that may pressure authorities to allow her identity to be revealed.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died on Dec. 28 in a Singapore hospital, two weeks after a gang rape on a moving bus in New Delhi that ignited protests across India and neighbouring countries, and prompted government promises for tougher punishments for offenders. "We want the world to know her real name," the woman's father told Britain's Sunday People newspaper.

"My daughter didn't do anything wrong, she died while protecting herself," he added. "I am proud of her. Revealing her name will give courage to other women who have survived these attacks. They will find strength from my daughter." There have been growing calls in India to name the victim. Politician Shashi Tharoor last week questioned the merit of keeping her anonymous, and suggested naming new anti-rape law after her, a proposal her father supported.

Indian law generally prohibits the identification of victims of sex crimes. The law is intended to protect victims' privacy and keep them from the media glare in a country where the social stigma associated with rape can be devastating. The father later told Reuters he had no objections to the media using his daughter's name, but did not elaborate.

ACCUSED DUE IN COURT

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India rape: Father 'did not want victim named'
6 January 2013 - Angry protests have continued in the Indian capital, Delhi
The father of an Indian woman who died after being gang raped on a Delhi bus has denied a British newspaper report that he wanted his daughter named. The man was quoted by India's Hindustan Times as saying her identity should only be revealed if her name was attached to a new law. The 23-year-old victim died from injuries sustained on 16 December.

On Monday, five men are due to appear in a Delhi court charged with abduction, gang-rape and murder. The case has sparked widespread anger across India and brought demands for greater protection for women. The victim, a student, has not been named as Indian law protects sex crime victims by prohibiting their identification.

However, Indian minister Shashi Tharoor has also urged authorities to reveal the name so it can be used for a new anti-rape law. The woman's father was quoted by a British newspaper on Sunday as saying her name should be made public to serve as an inspiration to other victims of sexual crimes. The Sunday People said the father had given it permission to name him and his daughter.

It carried a photograph of the father but said the family had requested no photograph of the victim be used. But he was later quoted by the Hindustan Times and The Hindu newspapers as denying the comments attributed to him. "I have only said we won't have any objection if the government uses my daughter's name for a new law for crime against women that is more stringent and better framed that the existing one," the Hindustan Times quoted him as saying.

Fast-track court
 
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Granny says turn `em over to the protesters...
:cool:
Delhi gang rape suspects appear in India court
7 January 2013 - BBC's Shilpa Kannan outside court: "Prosecutors have been asking for a closed-door trial, probably just to avoid the kind of chaos we're seeing today"
Five men accused of the abduction, gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in Delhi are in court for a preliminary hearing in a case that has shocked India. Security outside the building is tight. The case is expected to be transferred to a new fast-track court for trial. The hearing comes as four Indian policemen have been suspended over the handling of another suspected rape and murder case near Delhi. The woman's body was found on Saturday.

The father of the alleged 21-year-old victim, a factory employee in the Delhi suburb of Noida, has told the BBC she was gang-raped. He said police initially failed to react when he reported her disappearance, suggesting instead that she had gone off with someone. The case has triggered protests in Noida. Two men have been arrested and a third suspect is reported to have fled.

Outcry

The BBC's Andrew North, outside the magistrates' court in the Saket district of Delhi, says there are chaotic scenes in the courtroom where the gang rape case is being heard. The room is filled with arguing lawyers, police and watching journalists, but there is no sign of the five accused, who are believed to be still in the building, our correspondent says. The suspects were kept away from cameras as they arrived in a police van. A sixth suspect, who is 17, will be tried separately in a youth court. Lawyers have said they will refuse to defend the accused, because of the outcry the crime has provoked. If convicted, the suspects could face the death penalty. Prosecutors have said they have extensive forensic evidence.

The five accused have been named as Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur. Two of the suspects have offered to give evidence, possibly in return for a lighter sentence, Reuters news agency reports. The victim and a male friend were attacked on a bus in south Delhi on 16 December. She died two weeks later in a hospital in Singapore. Campaigners are calling for tougher rape laws and reforms to the police, who - critics say - often fail to file charges against accused attackers. The victim's father has denied weekend reports in a British newspaper that he wanted his daughter's name published. He told BBC Hindi last week that he would have no problem with her name being used on a new law against rape.

BBC News - Delhi gang rape suspects appear in India court

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Indian women hope brutal rape will spark change
Jan 7,`13 -- Preeti Singh worries each time her 20-year-old daughter has a late night at the hospital where she's a medical student. If her daughter has to stay late, Singh tells her to wait for daylight to come home.
"I was brought up with the fear that once it's dark you should be at home," says Singh, a 43-year-old kindergarten teacher in Bangalore, India's technology hub. "I can't shake that fear." Across India, women tell similar stories. Now there is hope for change. For decades, women have had little choice but to walk away when groped in a crowded bus or train, or to simply cringe as someone tosses an obscene comment their way. Even if they haven't experienced explicit sexual abuse themselves, they live with the fear that it could happen to them or a loved one. The gang rape and beating of a 23-year-old university student on a moving bus in India's capital has taken sexual violence - a subject long hidden in the shadows of Indian society - and thrust it into the light.

Following the Dec. 16 attack in New Delhi, which resulted in the woman's death, hundreds of thousands of Indians - both men and women - poured onto the streets of cities across the country, holding candlelight vigils and rallies demanding that authorities take tougher action to create a safe environment for women. "At least now people are talking," says Rashmi Gogia, a 35-year-old receptionist in a New Delhi law office. Associated Press journalists interviewed women across India, from the northern cities of Lucknow and Allahabad, to Bangalore in the south, and from the eastern cities of Patna and Gauhati to Ahmadabad in the west.

The outrage sparked by the heinous attack has given women at least a measure of hope that the country of 1.2 billion people will see meaningful improvement in how women are treated, though most realize any change is likely to come slowly. "These protests have at least given women the confidence to talk about sexual violence," says Singh, the kindergarten teacher in Bangalore. "For too long, women have been made to feel guilty for these things." Like every woman in India, Singh has her own rules for her daughter's safety. "We make sure she messages us when she reaches (the hospital) and when she leaves for home," she says.

Women who were willing to talk about an unwelcome touch or a crude remark they'd experienced said they had learned to ignore it. Most said they convinced themselves to shrug off these routine assaults and humiliations to avoid angering their attackers, or for fear of bringing shame upon themselves and their families. "What can you do? You have to work, you have to commute," says Yasmin Talat, a 20-year-old graduate student and career counselor in Allahabad whose parents do not allow her to go out alone after 7 p.m. "Sometimes I do get angry and say something," she says, "but I'm also scared. You never know what could anger these men."

Aparna Dasa, a 35-year-old saleswoman at a Gauhati department store, said whenever she gets into a crowded bus men try to hold her hand as she grasps the overhead support bar. "They try and touch at every opportunity." "When I'm on a crowded bus and someone says something bad to me, in my heart I want to give him a tight slap, but I've learned to ignore it," says Gogia, the New Delhi receptionist. "What's the use? All the blame always comes back to the woman. "We stay silent from a sense of shame," she adds, "or are made to stay silent."

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So very sad...


23-year-old medical student Jyoti Singh Pandey was gang-raped and thrown off a moving bus in New Delhi in December 2012. She died in hospital in Singapore on December 28, two weeks after being attacked. Her father, Badri Singh Pandey, 53, later decided to reveal his tragic daughter’s identity – to give strength to other victims
 
CaféAuLait;6617835 said:
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So very sad...


23-year-old medical student Jyoti Singh Pandey was gang-raped and thrown off a moving bus in New Delhi in December 2012. She died in hospital in Singapore on December 28, two weeks after being attacked. Her father, Badri Singh Pandey, 53, later decided to reveal his tragic daughter’s identity – to give strength to other victims

This is 'unbelievable'--

Indian guru says victim 'as guilty as her rapists' - World News | TVNZ

Summary: A guru made statements to the effect that the victim was as much to blame as the attackers. 'She should have responded peacefully, begged for her life and recited a mantra'.

People were outraged and protests were held, etc. An official responded that the guru should not have made such statements.

~~~
I think back to the recent campaign when comments were made about rape. 'Real rape', etc.

I can only 'hope' that they can/do receive the death penalty. And that Steubenville, OH leaves no stone unturned in prosecuting its case.

The young woman who was shot in the head for advocating schools for girls in Afghanistan is said to be recovering in London.
 
At least the Indians are protesting. In Ohio the people are protesting that rapists are being prosecuted.
 
Rape suspects beaten by police...
:eusa_eh:
Lawyer: Police beat New Delhi gang rape suspects
Jan 10,`13 -- Police badly beat the five suspects arrested in the brutal gang rape and killing of a young woman on a New Delhi bus, the lawyer for one of the men said Thursday, accusing authorities of tampering with evidence in the case that has transfixed India.
"They are innocent," Manohar Lal Sharma said of the five suspects ahead of a court hearing, which ended quickly after it turned out some of the official court paperwork listing the charges was illegible. He said police have beaten the men and placed other prisoners into the suspects' cells to threaten them with knives, adding, "You can't believe the reality of Indian prisons." Five men have been charged with attacking the 23-year-old woman and a male friend on a bus as it was driven through the streets of India's capital. The woman was raped and assaulted with a metal bar on Dec. 16 and eventually died of her injuries. Rape victims are not identified in India, even if they die, and rape trials are closed to the media.

Sharma, who has made a series of inflammatory and often-contradictory statements over the past two days, at one point Thursday said the dead woman's male companion, who boarded the bus with her after the pair saw a movie together, was "responsible for the whole thing." He gave no details, though, and a few hours later said the man's responsibility "was only my opinion." The case has sparked protests across India by women and men who say India's legal system doesn't do enough to prevent attacks on women. Women have told stories of relentless abuse - from catcalls to bus gropings to rapes - and of a police and judicial system that does little to stop it, often blaming victims' unchaste behavior.

The woman and her male friend were coming home from a movie at a New Delhi mall when they boarded a bus that police say was carrying the defendants, who were traveling together on a joy ride through the city. The woman's friend, who has not been identified, has said he tried to defend the woman but was soon beaten unconscious. Authorities say the two were dumped off the bus, naked and bloody, later. Sharma said that authorities, under pressure to quickly wrap up the case, would convict the suspects no matter what evidence, including forcing them to make incriminating statements. "What happened to this woman was so heinous, so horrible," Sharma said, adding that, "the police will manipulate the facts."

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Do India's 'fast track' courts work?
9 January 2013 - A significant consequence of the horrific rape and death of a 23-year-old student in Delhi has been the decision to set up six "fast track" courts in the capital to deal specifically with cases relating to sexual assaults of women.
Fast track courts are not new in India - have they worked? Going by numbers, yes. Ever since they were set up by the federal government in 2001 to help tackle the case backlog, more than 1,000 fast track courts have disposed of more than three million cases. Many lawyers believe this is a considerable achievement given the fact that more than 30 million cases are pending in high and district courts in India. To add to litigants' woes, there's also a shortage of judges as vacancies are not filled: high courts have 32% fewer judges than they should and district courts have a 21% shortfall. No wonder the ratio of judges is as low as 14 per one million people, compared with over 100 judges per million citizens in the US. Some years ago, a Delhi High Court judge reckoned it would take more than 450 years to clear the backlog given then judge numbers.

All this prodded the government to launch a scheme under which more than 1,700 fast track courts would tackle long-pending cases at a cost of $90m (£56.18m). An average of five such courts were to be established in each district of the country. The judges were to be a mix of retired high court judges and promoted judicial officers. But funding has been an issue. The central government said it could no longer fund the new courts after March 2011, leaving future funding decisions to individual states. The result - some states have done away with the courts after finding them too expensive to run. Former Supreme Court chief justice KG Balakrishnan has said the fast track courts were quite successful in reducing the backlog of cases. "If you go by numbers, the record of these courts has been good. But we still don't have any evidence on the quality of the judgements these courts have delivered," says Dr V Nagaraj who teaches law at the Bangalore-based National Law School of India University.

Hasty trials raise fears of possible miscarriages of justice. India's Law Commission sums up the paradox: "Justice delayed is justice denied and at the same time justice hurried is justice buried." Leading lawyer and rights activist Colin Gonsalves says fast-track courts have not turned out to be a "very satisfactory system of delivering justice". He told Voice of America recently that people are "generally very upset by the declining standards of these courts and have defined it as 'fast-track injustice.'" "These courts are given unrealistic targets of cases to finish. They have been told they ought not get involved in too much technicality, and that broadly if they get a feeling that a person is guilty, then declare him guilty and if he is innocent, then declare him innocent." "But that's not how the criminal justice system works. It requires care and attention. Decisions are not made on the basis of hunches and guess work, which is what the fast-track courts turned out to be. Judges [were] cutting down on evidence, not allowing full cross-examinations, proceeding in the absence of lawyers in many cases."

More http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20944633
 
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Granny says dey's mommas need to teach dem Indian boys some manners...
:eusa_eh:
Six men arrested in new Indian 'bus rape'
13 January 2013 - Police in India have arrested six men after they allegedly gang-raped a woman on a bus, just weeks after a similar attack shocked the nation.
The latest assault is said to have taken place in the northern state of Punjab. The police are searching for a seventh suspected attacker. Last month, a 23-year-old student died of her injuries after being raped in the capital Delhi. Five men have been charged with her murder and are facing trial.

If convicted, they face the death penalty. A sixth suspect, who is thought to be 17, will be tried separately in a youth court if it is confirmed he is a minor. The Delhi attack prompted mass protests which prompted the government to set up special fast-track courts to exclusively deal with rape cases and also consider strengthening sexual assault laws, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder reports.

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The suspects were shown hooded alongside Indian police

Night attack

Police officials say that the latest victim was a 29-year-old woman. She is believed to have been travelling on a bus back to her village on Friday night. The driver and conductor allegedly refused to stop at her village, instead taking her to a desolate location not far from the city of Amritsar.

The two men are then believed to have been joined by five others and taken turns raping the woman throughout the night. The victim was then dropped off near her village, where she was able to tell her relatives about the attack. The extent of the woman's injuries were not immediately known.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21003279

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6 arrested in new rape of a bus passenger in India
Jan 13,`13 -- Police said Sunday they have arrested six suspects in another gang rape of a bus passenger in India, four weeks after a brutal attack on a student on a moving bus in the capital outraged Indians and led to calls for tougher rape laws.
Police officer Raj Jeet Singh said a 29-year-old woman was the only passenger on a bus as she was traveling to her village in northern Punjab state on Friday night. The driver refused to stop at her village despite her repeated pleas and drove her to a desolate location, he said. There, the driver and the conductor took her to a building where they were joined by five friends and took turns raping her throughout the night, Singh said. The driver dropped the woman off at her village early Saturday, he said. Singh said police arrested six suspects on Saturday and were searching for another. Gurmej Singh, deputy superintendent of police, said all six admitted involvement in the rape. He said the victim was recovering at home. Also on Saturday, police arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly raping and killing a 9-year-old girl two weeks ago in Ahmednagar district in western India, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Her decomposed body was found Friday.

Police officer Sunita Thakare said the suspect committed the crime seven months after his release from prison after serving nine years for raping and murdering a girl in 2003, PTI reported Sunday. The deadly rape of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus in December led to the woman's death and set off an impassioned debate about what India needs to do to prevent such tragedies. Protesters and politicians have called for tougher rape laws, police reforms and a transformation in the way the country treats women. "It's a very deep malaise. This aspect of gender justice hasn't been dealt with in our nation-building task," Seema Mustafa, a writer on social issues who heads the Center for Policy Analysis think tank, said Sunday. "Police haven't dealt with the issue severely in the past. The message that goes out is that the punishment doesn't match the crime. Criminals think they can get away it," she said.

In her first published comments, the mother of the deceased student in the New Delhi attack said Sunday that all six suspects in that case, including one believed to be a juvenile, deserve to die. She was quoted by The Times of India newspaper as saying that her daughter, who died from massive internal injuries two weeks after the attack, told her that the youngest suspect had participated in the most brutal aspects of the rape.

Five men have been charged with the physiotherapy student's rape and murder and face a possible death penalty if convicted. The sixth suspect, who says he is 17 years old, is likely to be tried in a juvenile court if medical tests confirm he is a minor. His maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility. "Now the only thing that will satisfy us is to see them punished. For what they did to her, they deserve to die," the newspaper quoted the mother as saying. Some activists have demanded a change in Indian laws so that juveniles committing heinous crimes can face the death penalty. The names of the victim of the Dec. 16 attack and her family have not been released.

Source
 
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It is not always a pleasant experience for women on the streets of Delhi ...
:eusa_eh:
How Delhi gang rape 'has changed my city'
16 January 2013 - There are growing calls for change in India after the gang-rape and death of a student in Delhi a month ago
It is one month since a 23-year-old physiotherapy student was brutally gang-raped and killed in the Indian capital, Delhi. The attack caught public attention and caused worldwide outrage. BBC Hindi's Parul Agrawal reflects on changes she has seen in the capital since then. As a woman journalist who has travelled almost every road in this city, one difference in public attitude that I can already feel everywhere is the way people have got used to words like "rape" and "sex" in their daily conversations. The demand for change has become much louder.

Discussions that were once limited to television debates, feminist groups and a small bunch of socially aware citizens are now clearly hot topics on the streets. Almost every day now I hear rickshaw pullers, auto-taxi drivers, roadside vendors and small shop owners talking about sex and rape and other previously taboo issues that used only to be discussed in the confines of their homes or among trusted friends. If there is a silver lining in the dark cloud caused by last month's gang rape it is that this issue is also being debated with much more candour and openness.

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More than a story

I believe that at least here in the capital, the rape incident is now more than just a story. Not long after the night of the incident, I was surprised by my taxi driver, who suddenly started a conversation about it. I thought he would be more interested in knowing details of what was happening in the case. But the conversation turned out to be about how the attitudes of some people remained horribly wrong. "Drivers, bus cleaners and auto-drivers seem to have little respect for women," he reflected. "They usually spend 20 hours of their day on the roads abusing women and being bossy to them at home. There should be classes organised for them to be taught how to respect women and make them sensitive towards society." What struck me is that he made little or no effort to omit words and phrases like "rape", "sexual frustration" or "sexual violence" in his conversations with a woman. In my years of living in Delhi, I cannot remember a time when walking through bustling markets like Karol Bagh or Sarojini Nagar was a more pleasant experience.

Jokes and cat-calls by masses of men on the roads were always laced with sexual innuendo, whether they were directed at naked mannequins or women buyers. And they made me feel uncomfortable. But a visit to one of these markets last week actually surprised me. At a local tea stall in Karol Bagh set up close to women's clothing shops, a group of men were discussing the case and details of the girls' family. As I stood by the shop, I was surprised that none of them made any attempt to replace or be ambiguous about words like "rape" and "sex" in front of me. While legal and police reforms in relation to rape cases will no doubt be a long and painful process, perhaps the most important changes have already taken place. The fact that people are now talking about the treatment of women and other taboo topics is both profound and long overdue.

BBC News - How Delhi gang rape 'has changed my city'
 
Granny says, "Tell him 'in a pig's eye'...
:mad:
Indian gang rape suspect wants trial moved
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 - One of the six charged in the fatal gang-rape of a 23-old-student in a bus in New Delhi asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to shift the trial from the capital, saying a fair hearing was impossible.
Feelings are still running high in India over the brutal attack in the middle of last month that ignited violent street protests over the lack of safety for women and sparked impassioned calls for harsher laws to tackle rape. “The sentiment has gone into the root of each home in Delhi by which even the judicial officers and state are not spared,” the petition filed by lawyer M.L. Sharma on behalf of defendant Mukesh Singh said. “In these circumstances, he cannot get justice in Delhi at all,” the petition said.

However, lawyers said that the application was not expected to disrupt the opening, set for today, of the high-profile trial where prosecutors plan to push for the death penalty over the killing of the physiotherapy student. Five men — aged between 19 and 35 — face murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping and other charges in the trial. The case against a sixth suspect, who claims he is 17, will be heard by a juvenile court if it is confirmed he is a minor. Last week, an Indian magistrate ordered the trial to be held in a special fast-track court to avoid delays that plague India’s clogged justice system.

One of the defense team said, on condition of anonymity, that they planned to make a representation to the Supreme Court today in connection with the petition to have the trial shifted. However, he said it would likely take at least a week for the Supreme Court to consider Singh’s plea if it agreed to hear it. Defense lawyers say they will enter not-guilty pleas and accuse police of torturing the defendants to get them to make false confessions.

However, prosecutors say they have DNA evidence linking the defendants to the attack in which the student and her 28-year-old male companion were assaulted on a bus as they were returning home from a movie. The prosecutors also have the victim’s hospital-bed declaration before her death and testimony from her companion who is recovering from a fracture and other injuries suffered while trying to fend off the attackers. The woman suffered massive intestinal injuries during the assault on Dec. 16 in which she was attacked with an iron bar. She died 13 days later after the government airlifted her to a Singapore hospital.

Indian gang rape suspect wants trial moved - Taipei Times

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New Bollywood film looks at sexual harrassment
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 - A new Indian film looks at the sensitive topic of sexual harassment in the workplace at a time when Bollywood has come under fire for its portrayal of women, after a fatal gang rape shocked the nation.
Inkaar (Denial), a Hindi movie combining crime and romance, explores how a relationship turns sour between Rahul, the alpha male chief executive officer of an advertising agency, and his ambitious protegee Maya, who rises up the company’s ranks. She claims sexual harassment, a charge he flatly denies, and the film develops through a series of flashbacks as the pair tell their story to a social worker looking at the case. The theme is an unusual one in an industry that has faced fresh criticism for objectifying women as merely skimpily dressed arm candy for a macho hero.

The brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi on Dec. 16 sparked shockwaves and protests across the nation, along with much soul-searching about its treatment and portrayal of women. Director Sudhir Mishra said the timing of Inkaar’s release, on Friday, was a coincidence, but he hoped the film would spark debate on under-discussed issues facing modern and urbanizing India. “The film explains the environment of a workplace from both men’s and women’s points of view,” he said. “Everyone has a point of view on a subject, especially something as strong as sexual harassment. I have come across a cluster of people who work in different offices and they have similar stories to narrate,” he said.

Inkaar’s initial reviews say it has failed to live up to its promise, and should have pushed further its exploration of gender politics in the office. “The tough questions that the film had started to lay out for us ... all get buried under a hurried, compromised end,” the Indian Express said. However, film trade analyst Komal Nahta described it as a “brave attempt” to take on a “bold subject.” “Films based on sexual harassment should be made more and more, but the filmmaker should handle this delicate subject with utmost care,” he said. While Bollywood avoids on-screen sexual contact and even kissing scenes, questions over its alleged commodification of women have intensified since last month’s horrific gang rape.

The “item number” has come under particular fire — a musical performance often unrelated to the plot, featuring scantily clad women in sexually suggestive dance routines. When the film returns to the storyline, the main female character is often tirelessly wooed by the male protagonist until she gives in to him. “We talk about public or police apathy towards crimes against women, but nothing comes close to the antipathy shown to women by Bollywood,” award-winning playwright Mahesh Dattani said in a scathing column. “Bollywood loathes women. Bollywood is a monster that has gone horribly wrong,” he said.

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