[h=1]One year after Delhi gang rape: nothing has changed[/h]
It’s a year since a 23-year-old physiotherapy student was raped and fatally injured in the Indian capital. The case was a tipping point that touched a cord in the country because of its familiarity, and led to massive protests. The protests also led to a change in Indian rape laws but our India correspondent tells us, for women in New Delhi, one year on, nothing has changed.
It’s a usual day and Nitika is going shopping. Nitika Seth is a young Delhi girl and in many ways symbol of the new, more liberal India….. Like every person in Delhi, the Delhi gang rape affected her life and made her more cautious. Watching where she is going and being more careful became part of her life. She says, a year later nothing has changed.
"Rapes have been happening all these years but somehow this case really struck us because it could have been anyone of us that it could have happened to. I mean we could have watched a movie and got into an auto or a cab and you know someone pulls you into a car, what do you do. I as a girl in Delhi am more aware of my surroundings, I am more careful." Nitika Seth said.
On 16 December 2012, India witnessed one of the most brutal gang rapes in recent history. The story touched a cord and brought people out on the streets asking for better laws for safety and security of women in India.
The case led to the setting up of a commission that recommended strengthening outdated laws to protect women. Change has been slow but more cases of sexual violence are being reported rather than silenced.
Violence against women remains the most tolerated atrocity in India with most women considering it a part of life as society defines the power of men through dominance.
Even though the rape laws are changed, it’s a long way before women start feeling secure.
Ranjana Kumari, Member of National Mission for Empowrment of Women, said, "Before the whole discourse that happened after the Nirbhaya case, it was always that it’s the woman who is responsible for what is happening to them but there was so much reaction if anybody took that kind of a position. So at the same time what is not happening today that the cases of rapes have not stopped, they have doubled, it has doubled because this kind of sickness in the society is almost a rape epidemic."
According to a recent UN survey, 95 per cent of women living in Delhi do not find public places safe…..
Young Delhi girls like Nitika and Swasti….who witness this every day say they would not dare step out alone after the sun goes down.
"Whether it’s what clothes she is wearing or why did she go out at night, why did she go out so late or why was she with a boy, what was happening, Its more about questioning her character here than questioning the victim more than questioning the people who did this to her." Swasti Parekh, said.
In many ways a societies real development lies in basic needs and women in India feel stifled even in the Indian capital because of lack of it. The 16 December gang rape is a constant reminder in India of how much needs to be done before one half of India’s population starts to feel safe in its own country.
