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| Delhi is India's 'rape capital' ! | | A woman is raped every 30 minutes: NCRB | | SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JULY 13: Even as the Delhi Police continue to be critcised for not stemming the growing number of rapes, a new leaf has been turned with the launching of a project called Parivartan (change).
And the project, signifcantly, is part of an initiative by the Delhi Police. With the support of the police personel, a group of young boys, girls and middle-aged men go through Delhi's poorer settlements calling on housewives to come and watch a pantomine, on rape. Given Delhi's reputation as India's 'rape capital', it is not surprising the group has found a large audience.
Performers use mimes to enact tales of women falling victims to rape. The play, according to one study, has been an eye-opener particularly for those females who often face sexual harrassment. The National Crime Recors Bureau (NCRB) says that rapes in Delhi increased to 651 in 2005 and are predicted to rise to 790 in 2006.
On the other hand, women's rights activists say that the number of rapes is much higher because most women are too scared to speak out. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, a woman is raped every 30 minutes in India, and statistics indicate the bustling metropolis of New Delhi is the worst.
In 2004, rapes in Delhi accounted for 30 percent of all rapes recorded in the country’s 35 major cities, with 457 out of a reported total 1,510. The NCRB adds that rapes in Delhi increased to 651 in 2005 and are forecast to rise to 790 this year, although women’s rights activists say the number of rapes are much higher because most women are too scared to speak out.
Rape victims are often ostracised by their communities and sometimes blamed for what happened. In one case, village elders forced a woman to marry the rapist — her own father-in-law. Then there was a pregnant woman who killed herself after being raped, and a school principal who raped a 16-year-old student by luring her with the promise of a matriculation certificate.
One rapist caused a public outcry when pleading to be acquitted he told the court that he would marry his victim because no one else would have her now. The judge jailed him for life.
The Delhi Police are now on a charm offensive to salvage their tarnished image and prove they are doing something. Besides the popular street plays, the police are holding self-defence classes for women, posting female constables in hotspots and have set up 24-hour helplines to provide counselling and information.
Police say the project is already showing results. Parents are more aware of leaving their young daughters with neighbours and women are taking more precautions when venturing out. Rights groups say policemen sometimes rape victims reporting the crime and last year a drunken constable raped a women on Mumbai’s most famous and crowded seaside boulevard.
Sociologists add while empowering women by giving them the tools to protect themselves is a positive start, changing the mindset of India’s men, who generally view women as objects, is the key to combating sexual violence. “I think you need to bring about this attitudinal change of men where they will learn to look at a woman not as a sexual object but in a more respectful and compassionate way,” Renuka Singh, professor of sociology at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, was quoted as saying
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