India has been in the news in the last couple of days for the horrific gangrape of a Spanish female tourist, riding through the country with her husband on Motor Bikes.
The victim (names withheld) posted on Instagram how she and her husband were attacked, while camping in the forest in Jharkhand State from which they planned to go to Nepal.
The Spanish couple said they were attacked with knives, and the woman was raped by seven Indian men.
A police patrol team later found the couple and took them to a hospital, where the woman confirmed her rape to hospital doctors.
The Police in Jharkhand State later announced the arrest of three men at the weekend and searching for four more men in connection with the incident.
This latest incident has highlighted what many perceive as a cultural problem in India, the lack of respect and violence towards women.
It cannot be anything else going by the statistics released by the Indian National Crime Bureau which recorded 31,516 rape cases in 2022 in India. That is a staggering 20% rise over the reported numbers in 2021.
More disturbing is that the numbers might be under reported due to shame and stigma attached to rape especially in the rural areas in the Asian country.
India is now fully associated with rape and violence against women, because many believe not enough is been done to punish the perpetrators.
In 2012, a brutal gang rape and killing of 23-year-old woman in a bus in New Delhi, brought the Indian rape pandemic to the notice of the world.
There are complaints that when rape cases are reported, the police botch the investigations and convictions become impossible. Several government reports have indicated rape convictions are constantly below 30% year after year.
This seems to be a cultural problem as voyeurism and stalking is very prevalent in India, with the incidents constantly downplayed. The cultural attitudes of Indian males towards females, also needs to be re-examined.
The rape of tourists and foreign women seems to be like a fantasy in the country.
In 2022, a female British tourist was raped while with her husband. In January 2024, an Indian-American woman was reportedly raped at a hotel in New Delhi.
It is clear that India has a rape problem and the world, especially female tourists need to be very cautious when visiting the country.
