Photo Essay – Women of Delhi, Around Town
Delhi’s lucky women.
[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]
Is Delhi India’s rape capital?
In December 2012, a 23-year-old girl was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died within two weeks.
According to a report in BBC, 572 rapes were reported in Delhi in 2011. More than 600 rapes were reported in 2012.
But Delhi is not India’s rape capital. India is. Thousands of rapes in India’s villages and its various conflict zones (like Kashmir, Manipur, Chattisgarh) remain unreported because the women who are assaulted in those parts do not represent the mainstream society. They are either Dalits or adivasis or secessionists. Since our society is built on inequalities, their rapes fail to evoke outrage. Neither the media, nor its consumers, are interested.
Responding to the Delhi bus rape, author Arundhati Roy was quoted in the media, saying, “The real problem is why is this crime (Delhi bus rape) creating such a lot of outrage is because it plays into the idea of the criminal poor, like the vegetable vendor, gym instructor or bus driver actually assaulting a middle class girl. Whereas when rape is used as a means of domination by upper castes, the army or the police it is not even punished… I think it will lead to some new laws perhaps, an increased surveillance, but all of that will protect middle class women. But in cases of the army and the police as perpetrators, we are not looking for laws. What do you do when the police themselves burn down villages, gang-rape women. I have personally listened to so many testimonies of women to whom this has been done.”
Being a woman anywhere in India is terrible, although women in Delhi have a voice.
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waaaaaah 🙂
M –
It would be a mistake to see this exclusively through the lens of class. Few points –
1. This was an exceptionally vicious rape (and murder). Violence accompanying the rape does matter.
2. Delhi also happens to be the capital so its citizens either way get access to lots of things, including good hospitals and infrastructure, that people elsewhere can only dream off. Even weather of Delhi, terrible as it is, is more important. Remember Doordarshan and its four major cities on the map of India.
3. Media also happens to be produced in major cities so there is a bias towards covering local events.
4. Number of rapes per capita you cite put it below lots of countries which have a much better record on women than India. So, there is great amount of under-reporting in rapes in Delhi as well. Research indicates most rapes are done by people the victim knows.
5. Coverage of any rape is to be applauded. Especially this one. Hopefully it will start a national conversation both within and between people. The great thing about media is its ability to generate empathy, and it is not often that it does so for the right causes.
But perhaps this narrow window into the national debate should be used to highlight the plight of women throughout and to that end, I think you are on the right track. But all can be done with a bit more class.