Sexual Violence against Women — Four Rape Incidents that Shook the Country: From Hathras to Delhi

With ever-increasing campaigns and protests for the safety, security, and rights of women over years, the country’s rape statistics continue to burgeon. Women’s safety remains to be a goal unattained and debated. Violence, including rape and assault, has been systematically used to deteriorate the spirits of women to “put them into their place”. Hathras, Bulandshahr, Goa, and Southwest Delhi; where the four rape incidents took place, shook the nation over the past year. While protests and candlelight vigils continue in solidarity with the victims, there seems to be no end to such heinous and horrible episodes of violence. Access to justice becomes even tougher given the culture of impunity of sexual assault and violence and the intersecting forms of gender, community, and caste discrimination. Up to June 15, 2021, the capital alone has seen a rise in crimes against women by 63.3 percent compared to 2020 according to the data shared by Delhi Police.

Hathras Gangrape and Murder Incident

On September 14, 2020, a 19-year-old woman belonging to the Dalit community was gang-raped and assaulted by four upper-caste men in Hathras district, Uttar Pradesh. The victim was admitted to a hospital in Aligarh and then shifted to Safdarjung hospital in Delhi where she died on September 29, 2020.

The police and the state had initially denied any rape, and the sections of media that tried to uncover the incident were intimidated. Following allegations that the victim’s body was cremated without the consent of her family in the early hours of September 30, a public outcry was triggered. On October 11, 2020, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe and confirmed that the victim was gang-raped and murdered.

Bulandshahr Rape Incident

On November 17, 2020, a 15-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr died of burn injuries, three months after she was raped. According to the complaint filed by the victim on August 15, 2020, she was raped by a man who had come to the village to guard an orchard.

The girl was being forced by the uncle of the accused to withdraw the case. A video of the girl shot at a government hospital in Bulandshahr showed the girl saying that she had set herself on fire after threats from the family of the accused. A relative and two friends of the accused were arrested by the police after the victim’s father alleged that they set her on fire. The incident followed weeks after the Hathras gang rape and murder.

Gangrape of Two Minors in Goa

On July 25, 2021, in a horrible incident four men raped two minor girls on Goa’s Benaulim Beach. According to Times of India, the accused posing as policemen also threatened the victims to upload the photos of the incident on social media platforms if they failed to pay a total of Rs. 65,000.

Days after the distressing incident, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s remarks sparked public outrage. The Chief Minister had said that parents needed to introspect why the minors were on the beach late at night. The remarks sparked a row about the liberty and safety of women in the state in particular, and in the country in general.

While the world is moving forward, leaders in India have left no stone unturned to blame victims, their families, and communities when such incidents are taking place at an unstoppable rate.

Southwest Delhi Alleged Rape and Murder

On August 1, 2021, a 9-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped, murdered, and forcibly cremated in Delhi’s Nangal village. The girl had left her home in the evening to fetch water from a watercooler at a nearby crematorium. Half an hour later, the crematorium’s priest and the three other accused told the girl’s parents that she was electrocuted and convinced them to cremate the body without informing the police. Protests over sexual assault took place in the capital and social media platforms were flooded post the incident. The victim’s family has alleged that she was raped and murdered while fetching water from the crematorium. Owing to the hasty cremation, the medical board has reported that it’s unable to move forward because only charred remains of the victim’s body could be recovered. Further investigations are underway.

In the first eight months of 2021 as against the corresponding period of the last year, the country has seen a rise of 46 percent in the complaints of crimes against women, as per a report by Hindustan Times. The National Commission for Women (NCW) has received as many as 1,116 complaints regarding molestation or the offense of outraging the modesty of women, 1,022 complaints of rape and attempt to rape, followed by 585 complaints of cybercrimes, reports the commission.

Up to June 15, 2021, the capital alone has seen a rise in crimes against women by 63.3 percent compared to 2020 according to the data shared by Delhi Police. The data shows that the rape cases saw an increase of 43 percent from 580 till June 15 last year to 833 this year and molestation jumped by 39 percent from 733 to 1,022.

Taizeem Bilal is a student pursuing English Literature at Jamia Millia Islamia.

Edited by: Reda Aamna