Girl’s suicide highlights dirty politics over rape

New Delhi: Politics, an official’s controversial comments about rape, and an upcoming election. This may sound like a senatorial race in Missouri, but it’s all part of a scandal that’s unfolded in India recently.

The anger, introspection and frustration among women’s groups and social critics, however, have echoed American reaction to recent suggestions by Rep Todd Akin that women’s bodies are able to prevent pregnancy in the event of “legitimate rape”.

The issue hit the headlines here when a 16-year-old girl committed suicide in the northern state of Haryana this month after being raped. Communist Party of India leader Brinda Karat threatened to stage a major protest this week over the crime, lack of follow-up and insensitive comments by officials that appeared to justify or excuse rape.

The girl’s family, meanwhile, is struggling to make sense of the tragedy. “I can’t even imagine what she was feeling,” said her uncle, Satyavan, 30, a government employee. “She was scared, terrified,” he said. “She probably felt ashamed. She said she feared her family would beat her because she’d been raped.”

The media has highlighted rape statistics from Haryana — including more than a dozen high-profile sexual attacks in the last few weeks — to argue that the government isn’t doing enough. “15 Rapes, 30 days, Zero Sensitivity,” said a banner headline on a nationwide Times Now television broadcast.

Aware that the incident offered an opening to political opponents as state and national elections approach, Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, made a well-publicised trip to visit the victim’s family, vowing tough action against the attackers.

A poll by Thomson Reuters Foundation in August rated women in India the worst off among the world’s top 20 economies, just behind Saudi Arabia. In a nation where female infanticide is prevalent, Haryana has the worst record: 830 girls born for every 1,000 boys, compared with a national average of 914 girls for every 1,000 boys. Haryana is known for its male-dominated local councils, called khap panchayats.

Honour killings

The khaps have a history of repressing women and Dalits, the lowest-ranking, or so-called untouchable, caste members. The councils often openly justify, or even order, “honour killings,” in which relatives or neighbours kill young lovers who marry in violation of caste rules. The slayings frequently go unpunished because of the khaps’ political clout.

“They’re kangaroo courts dominated by rich landowners,” said Ranjana Kumari, director of Delhi’s Centre for Social Research think tank. “But no government in Haryana has the courage to stop, or even speak out against, khap panchayats. They have money and political power.”

The mind-set of some khap members was evident last week when Sube Singh, a khap official representing the area where the girl’s rape and suicide occurred, argued that the best way to stop rape was to have girls marry young.

United Nations agencies report that 40 per cent of the world’s child marriages are in India. India recorded more than 24,600 rapes in 2011, up from 19,300 in 2006 and an 870 per cent increase from 1971, when India started keeping records.

Haryana reported 733 rapes last year, up from 608 five years ago. The jump, experts say, is partly because of social changes, rapid urbanisation and poor police work.

“We know who the men are,” Satyavan said. “It’s a small village; everyone knows everyone”, adding that he hopes the men are punished. “Despite all the attention, rapes will only stop if there’s zero tolerance.”

— Los Angeles Times