Popspoken’s newest global trends analyst is right in the heart of New Delhi, India — one of the world’s touted rising stars but not without its set of problems. Another gang rape case in Mumbai leaves Tarini Miglani wondering: has India really learnt its lesson?
Last December, we heard the shocking news of a young girl gang raped in a moving bus in New Delhi. We then watched as the story unfolded ending with her passing away in Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore. After the case, Indian women were promised a safer country for themselves and their daughters.
Yet, just yesterday a young photojournalist was gang raped in Mumbai-India’s safest city while she was on an assignment, making us feel an eerie sense of deja vu.
Mumbai is India’s financial capital and home to the Bollywood film industry; its liberal status cannot be ignored.
The 22-year-old woman, who was interning for a magazine, was out early Thursday evening when the incident took place. She, along with her male colleague, were at the Shakti Mill compound in central Mumbai, when a group of men approached them offering to help her get a better photograph. They tied up the colleague and then committed the crime
Mumbai police has released sketches of the 5 suspects and detained 20-25 men. According to the hospital in which the young woman is being treated, she is stable but traumatized.
After the December case, there were demonstrations in the capital for days calling for change. The Indian media played a crucial role in propelling the protests and keeping the effort alive. However, eventually the story died down, but not without with a certain sense of hope that things will improve.
Thursday’s gang-rape incident in Mumbai begs the question: where is that change?
The Mumbai case brings about the same debate we had in December and the same debate society and female rights activists have been arguing for years, yet little has changed or perhaps become worse. The primary focus is on what women should do to avoid getting raped as opposed to what the government, what law enforcement officials must do to prevent rape in the first place.
It is appalling that even today when faced with a gang-rape case, we are discussing whether or not women should take self-defense classes or what they should wear. Instead the discussion should be focused on how to implement the law and how to build respect for women.
The same fear that women feel each day leaving the house needs to be drilled into the minds of these men.
Photo credit: IBN Live India
