A twenty-two year old photojournalist was raped repeatedly
on Thursday by five men. This incident occurred in Mumbai, India late Thursday
evening in a Mill complex. At the time, she was walking with her male colleague
when they were both confronted and beaten by the five men. This was not the
first time these men had committed this horrendous crime but this was the first
time it had been reported to police officials. In total, these men had raped five people; a
woman who worked as a scavenger in a garbage dump, a sex worker, a call center
worker, a transvestite, and the photojournalist. The victims of the Thursday’s
crime were left by the railroad tracks and were threatened by the men who said
they would upload video of the attack on the internet if they reported the crime.
The two immediately caught a cab to the hospital where they reported the crime.
This is a sociological created problem affecting
many families in India where this kind of crime often occurs but is hardly
reported. The view and definition of rape in this culture highly impacts the
incident of rape in their society. In a survey of more than 10,000 men carried
out in six Asian countries, India not among them, found that when the word “rape”
was not used as part of a questionnaire, more than one of ten men admitted to
forcing sex on a woman who was not their partner. When asked why the
overwhelming majority said it was “entitlement” and their motivation was “entertainment
seeking.” The culture of rape also puts blame on the victim instead of the
perpetrator(s) and this was also clearly seen in the article where one of the
criminals’ mother partially defended her son by saying that the girl was also
to blame for wearing provocative clothes and being out late at night. Lastly,
these men all came from a very low socioeconomic status where it made it easy
for them to commit the crime because they said they felt like they had nothing
to lose. These men were unemployed or working in harsh conditions and only
getting paid as little as $4 a day. Although women are the main victims, the
whole family is impacted. After being raped, these women are no longer seen as desirable
which makes it hard for her to find a husband. This leaves a burden on many families who often depend on the money they will receive from their daughter's finance when they marry them off.
Karina Velazquez
11/1/13
3:20 pm
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