India's Rape Problem | Jharkhand Case

"It takes two hands to clap. You can't refute that. A 'proper' girl wouldn't be out at 9PM. Girls are far more responsible for getting r@ped, than boys for r@ping them." This is Madhumita Pandey, she was 22 years old when she went to the Tihar Jail in Delhi to interview 122 r@pists to answer only one question, "Why do r@pists r@pe?" A similar to story to Samuel D. Smithyman's, a PhD student in 1976. He had published an ad in the newspapers in Los Angeles. He wasn't expecting anyone to reply to his ad, but 200 people did reply. Who were these people? R@pists. Samuel then interviewed 50 people and published a research paper. Why am I telling you about Madhumita and Samuel? Because their research is crucial to help us comprehend the reasons behind Jharkhand's recent incident. "On Friday, a foreign tourist in India put up a video on Instagram. She had bruises on her face. She had been gang-r@ped by 7 men during her trip." On July 2023, a couple of motorbike vloggers came to India through the Pakistan border.

They said, "Hello India, after 5 years of travelling the world, we have finally arrived in India." Before this incident, they had been travelling for 6 years where they visited 66 countries including Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. They had been in India for 6 months and had travelled for about 20,000 km. The couple was travelling through Jharkhand and going to Bhagalpur in Bihar. In the Dumka area of Jharkhand, near Kumrahat village, they pitched a tent to spend the night. But unfortunately, that night, a crime was committed against them. The 28-year-old woman was r@ped and her husband was brutally beaten. Jharkhand Police responded quickly. They arrested all accused. The couple was given financial compensation. Now, the couple has gone to Nepal. The victim also said that the Indians were nice to her. And that she doesn't blame the Indians. She blames only the criminals.

The tweet that made this incident go viral got 200 million views! Yes, 200 million views. It started a debate on social media. R@pes happen all over the world, so why is India being singled out for it? A few years ago, a Thomson Reuters poll showed that India is one of the most dangerous countries for women. Worse than Afghanistan and Syria. But is India's situation actually that bad? Some people say that in India, men are se*-starved, that's why there are so many r@pe cases. Others talk about fake r@pe cases. But what's the truth? I'll talk about all of these, especially about a r@pist's psychology. Some of this information may shock you.

First of all, we need to understand the context. How bad is this problem in India compared to other countries? According to the World Bank, 30% of women in the world face some form of se*ual violence. If we look at Indian Government's data, in 2022, 31,516 r@pe cases were reported. Some of you may say that that amounts to 90 r@pe cases each day. But we do need to understand that India is the most populous country in the world. So on an aggregate level, every crime is committed the most in India. So we need to look at it on a per capita basis. We have data from 2013. The number of r@pe cases per 100,000 population. That's 27 in the USA, 36 in the UK, and 60 in Sweden. And in India, it is only 2.6. So according to this rate, the r@pe situation in India isn't that bad. But there's a problem with this. "Reporting" Do you remember the Hathras case? "A young woman from Uttar Pradesh was gang-r@ped. Police apathy and negligence of the system led to her death yesterday." In that case, the victim tried to file an FIR with the police hours after the incident. "I was r@ped.

quot; "Did you get r@ped?" "-Yes." "Who were they?" "Ravi and Sandeep." But the police dismissed it. According to SR Darapuri, a former police officer, the police did not write the complaint, nor did they record the victim's statement. Based on the National Crime Records Bureau's data from 2015, about 85% of se*ual violence cases in India are unreported. 85%. There are many reasons for this. The victim may not have faith in the legal system. The victim is often pressured into not reporting the case. And often, the police doesn't file a complaint, similar to the Hathras case. So that's why, in many countries, the r@pe rates are high not because it is a major problem there, it might be because the legal system is so competent, that all instances of crimes are reported. The second problem is that the legal definition of r@pe can be different in different countries. For example, in India, it's defined as "unlawful se*ual intercourse against the will and without the consent of a woman.

quot; Indian Penal Code has given further clarifications. For instance, if the girl has given her consent but she is under the age of 16, or if she has been blackmailed or threatened into consenting, or she is a person whose mental health isn't stable, in these situations, consent will not be considered valid. And any se*ual intercourse will be deemed r@pe. If you compare it with other countries, the definitions do differ. For example, in European countries, if there's non-consensual se* between a married couple, it is considered r@pe. But the concept of Marital R@pe doesn't legally exist in India. If we consider the instances of marital r@pe in India, then according to the NCRB data, the percentage of unreported cases goes up to 99%. Due to these reasons, it becomes difficult to judge India based on its r@pe statistics. That's why we need to look at other statistics. This scene is from the dark comedy movie Darlings.

Unfortunately, this is the story of many women in our country. In legal term, domestic violence is defined as "cruelty against women by husband and relatives." And it's one of the most reported crimes in India. 32% of Indian married women said that they had to face some form of physical, se*ual, or emotional violence caused by their husbands. This percentage is 24% in the UK and 24.3% in the US. Many countries are in a worse situation than India. For example, in Bangladesh, this number is 65%. We can also look at statistics of public harassment. 80% of Indian women said that they have to face public harassment in Indian cities. This number is 77% in the US, 71% in the UK, and 93% in Afghanistan. These statistics show that India's situation is not the absolute worst in the world. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything about this problem. To tackle this issue, we need to understand, why do r@pes take place? And to understand this, let's first understand, what is a r@pist's profile? There are 3 characteristics in the Indian r@pists' profile. First, the relationship between the r@pist and the victim. According to the government data from 2022, in 97% of cases, the r@pist was a known person to the victim. 97% cases. This is an award-winning documentary from Jharkhand's Beirut district. Ranjit was a farmer who went to attend a wedding with his family. Ranjit returned home on time, but his 13-year-old daughter was late. She reached home at 01:30 AM, in a terrible bad state. The girl had been r@ped by her cousin. This doesn't happen only in India.

American research has also shown that the victim usually knows the r@pist. The second characteristic is that most r@pists are young. A Bengaluru study has shown that most r@pists are between 21-30 years old. This is the case in other countries too. In fact, this graph from the US shows that most crimes are committed by young boys. This isn't India-specific either. There has been a lot of research on this. The main factor is peer pressure. Boys are under a lot of pressure from their friends to become a man. Be a man. This includes toxic masculinity traits which result in r@pe. The third characteristic is that most r@pists have a low level of education. For example, when Madhumita Pandey interviewed the r@pists in Tihar Jail, it was found that many of them had dropped out in the 3rd or 4th grade. Obviously, the sample size of 122 r@pists is quite low. But this is true in other countries too. For instance, in South Africa, only around 50% of r@pists had passed primary school. Another reason for this can be that uneducated individuals lack financial resources and therefore struggle to get legal help. This is why, most of the inmates around the world, are uneducated and poor. Now we come to the question, why do r@pists r@pe? One way to get to the answer is to ask a r@pist directly.

"A 'proper' girl wouldn't be out at 9PM. Girls are far more responsible for getting r@ped, than boys for r@ping them." This is what Madhumita Pandey did. Madhumita found out that many r@pists think this. "I am not a r@pist." "Yes, I had se*, I did not take consent for it." "Or, 'what is consent?'" "Or, 'No, I was not sure that she was saying no.'" She interviewed a 49-year-old r@pist who r@ped a 5-year-old child, and she asked him why he did it. Madhumita was shocked by his reply. The r@pist said that the child's 'character' was bad, and so she had to be punished. Madhumita asked if he felt bad. The r@pist said that he did feel bad. Because he ruined her life. Since she's not a virgin anymore, no one will marry her. But he is willing to marry her after serving his sentence. So this was a disturbing statement. That gave us a glimpse into the psychology of a r@pist. That the r@pist did feel bad, but not because he r@ped the child, but because the girl may not get married due to this.

This shows us the lens through which r@pists look at society. Professor Mary Koss asked several r@pists, if they had forced themselves on their victims, they said yes. Then, she asked them if they had r@ped the victims, they denied it. There has been extensive research on r@pists, the links are in the description. The research shows that r@pists don't feel remorse. Rather, they blame the victim. This is known as Cognitive Distortion.

Jaydip Sarkar did a mental health analysis of many r@pists. In it, he found that many r@pists believed, that sometimes, the se*ual urge of a man, reaches a dangerous level, after which, it becomes crucial to satisfy it. Some r@pists said that if their semen is wasted, they would become weak. And to prevent this weakness, a girl should offer herself. Now you must have been shocked to hear such things. But we are not getting a direct answer from the r@pists. Researchers say that there are two theories to explain this behaviour. The Evolutionary theory and the Societal theory. In 1968, psychiatrist James A. Brussel stated that "Nobody is born to commit r@pe, However, the potential for r@pe is in every person." Why does he say this? Because many psychologists believe that a person r@pes due to evolutionary reasons. Charles Darwin proposed the Theory of Evolution years ago. He believed that all organisms choose their mate based on many specific physical traits. That's why many animals fight each other before mating with a female. So that the female is convinced that the male organism she chooses is strong. Charles Darwin says that humans do this too. A woman chooses a man with a strong build so that he can protect her and her children.

Whereas men choose women with fuller hips and breasts, which are indicators of fertility. Evolutionary theory suggests that every organism's purpose is to propagate its gene, for which it may do risky things too. The people who explain r@pists' psychology, with the evolutionary theory, claim that r@pists are driven by the same goal. Most r@pe victims are between the ages of 18 and 30. If we look at the data from 2022, in India 66% of the victims were in this age group. But this evolutionary theory fails in many cases. For example, in 2022, 112 girls were r@ped who were younger than 12 years old. And more than 1,000 women were r@ped who were over 45 years old. These women were not at their peak fertility. That's why many researchers argue that relying on evolutionary theory is an excuse used by a society, to claim that the society isn't flawed, rather human beings as a whole are flawed. Many people use this theory, to describe a r@pist. That the r@pist was a brutal monster, an animal. This excuses their responsibility. If that man was an animal that means there are no problems in our society. In contrast, the Socio-Cultural theory suggests that a man is driven to be a r@pist because of his society. Mukesh Singh was a convicted r@pist in the Nirbhaya case. "In 2012, on a December night, on a moving bus, a girl named Nirbhaya was r@ped." "It takes two hands to clap. You can't refute that. A 'proper' girl wouldn't be out at 9PM.

quot; Our society holds similar views. "You can't clap with one hand. The boy and the girl know each other, they have an understanding, Otherwise, such things don't happen." That's why many people blame the society. But the problem is that the arguments they use are wrong. Many people say that r@pes take place because the men in our society are se*-starved. They have unfulfilled se*ual desires. But Madhumita and other researchers have shown that this is incorrect. R@pe is not about se*. R@pe is about power and domination. R@pe is a tool for boys to control girls. Many political leaders have similar traditional views.

"They're boys, boys make mistakes." "Why should they be hanged?" Mulayam Singh Yadav said that boys make mistakes. They shouldn't be hanged for it. In 2012, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwant said that rapes happen in India, not in Bharat. "Mohan Bhagwat said such crimes hardly take place in Bharat, but they occur frequently in India." It can be translated as if girls do traditional things, they will be safe. But the problem arises when they try to be modern, wear revealing clothes, start earning money, and going out into the society, that's when the problems start. "When girls didn't wear such clothes, there were no r@pe cases." "No, these things didn't happen before." "If they wear revealing clothes, anyone would be tempted." I'm sure many people will look at this photo of the Spanish woman, and say that, "If a girl wears such clothes, of course, she'll be r@ped." But the main reason behind all of this is the way society perceives girls. In any patriarchal society, the statuses of boys and girls differ. In any patriarchal society, it is said that girls are weaker. They cannot think independently. And that is why they need to be controlled. Let me repeat this, these societies believe that girls are weak. They cannot think independently. And so, they need to be controlled. If they are not controlled, they will make mistakes. When this desire to control them becomes extreme, it leads to se*ual violence.

There are many examples of this control in our society. For instance, even today, 80% of women are required to take permission before visiting a health centre. Almost half of the women don't go out of their homes even once a day. One unique thing about patriarchy is that many women end up internalising these beliefs as well. This is why 29% of Indian women believe that it is okay for a husband to beat his wife, if she leaves the house his permission. 14% of women say that a husband can hit his wife if she refuses to have se*. Because of this control in India, you won't see many girls in public spaces. When my uncle went to Vietnam, he was shocked to see women driving taxis there. Because in India, you don't see girls in public spaces. This makes public spaces unsafe for girls. The root of all this is an attitude where it is important to control girls. I've seen this in my own home, I'm treated very differently than my sister. Sexual violence is not just about dominating girls, it's also about sending a message to others. For instance, after the partition, sexual violence was used to insult the other community. We saw this in Manipur, and we saw this in the Rohingya violence in Myanmar. Girls and women are the ones suffering.

Recently, in Sandeshkhali, West Bengal, after 55 days, a TMC leader was arrested on the charges of se*ual violence. "Ruling Trinamool Congress party leader, Sheikh Shahjahan, has now been arrested by the police." Many boys think that if girls are weak, they can get over it with exposure therapy. That is, if they talk to girls. But this doesn't happen in our society, neither in schools nor at home. This is a village near Delhi, called Unchera, here, each house has a room outside, known as a Baithak. "This baithak is like a common room. It becomes the sleeping quarters for the unmarried boys of the family." These boys are not allowed to enter their homes. These boys go inside their homes only when they have a meal. Or if there is an emergency. Forget about looking at girls.

If they are not allowed to talk to the girls in their family, how will the misconceptions in their minds go away? We can see the same thing in schools. In a recent video, I talked about how CCTVs were installed in the corridors of Kendriya Vidhyalay, Bengaluru, to see if the boys and girls were talking to each other. 95% of Indian schools are co-ed. But boys and girls are not allowed to sit together. There is a big distance between boys and girls since childhood, it becomes easy for misconceptions to get normalised in their minds. This is why many boys think that if a girl smiles, she is inviting their attention. These attitudes are reinforced in our films. Be it Tamil films, Telugu films, or Hindi films. Our films are so morally vague, they portray stalking as romantic. Be it Akshay Kumar or Shah Rukh Khan. These A-list stars have taught Indian boys what it means to love where No doesn't mean No it means Yes. This may seem like a minor issue to some, but many r@pists have used this as the justification, claiming that girls don't know what they want. So even when she says No, she's not actually saying no, rather she's playing hard to get and she does want the se*ual interaction.

[Mental gymnastics] Some of you may say that movies are only for entertainment. Everyone knows that the story and scenes are fake. They watch a movie and then forget about it. But multiple researches have shown that people's perspectives change with movies and TV shows. Everything we see, hear, and wear. For example, in Australia, a man stalked two women. He stalked one woman for 18 months. When the judge asked him why, the man said that he believed it was normal because it's common in Bollywood films. Bollywood films are so misogynistic because of two things. First, the audience. 61% of the movie-going audience for these movies are male. If they want to cater to that audience and their conservative beliefs, then why bother changing anything? Secondly, most of these movies are made by men. In 2021, research revealed that women only hold 10% of the industry roles like editing, directing, writing, design, and cinematography in our country. If women aren't involved in making these movies then this is how the content will be. Obviously, we shouldn't generalise. One of my favourite quotes about India by British economist Joan Robinson. "Whatever you can rightly say about India the opposite is also true." This is true about r@pe in our country. Many people have views that will infuriate you. But not everyone thinks like that. Pew Research revealed that most men and women believe that women can be good political leaders, and they should be involved in their family's financial decisions. But there are contradictions in these views too. When you ask people if they want equal rights for boys and girls, everyone says yes. But 90% also say that wives should obey their husbands. They should have equal rights, But wives should always obey their husbands.

The gender attitude is the worst among Muslims and the best among Sikhs. Don't assume that it's not like this in South Indian states. Yes, they are a little better than North Indian states, but 75% of people in South India do believe that, wives should obey their husbands. Every time there's a major incident, we feel that the situation will finally change. But the situation doesn't change because we are focused on the wrong things. We ask for stricter punishments. We ask for capital punishment, to hang them till de@th or to castrate them. "When such crimes are committed in some countries, 'justice' is delivered by the public. I think these kind of people need to be brought out in public and lynched." Look at how safe the Middle East is. They follow the Sharia (Islamic law) and so the r@pists are beheaded. Why don't we do this? Because the logic is all wrong. And there are 3 reasons. First, remember that in 97% of the cases, the r@pist is someone that the victim knows. So when you know that after filing the complaint, in case there is a conviction, the r@pist will be given the capital punishment, do you think such complaints will be registered? Advocate Vrinda Grover pointed out that girls are often pressured with things like how they are ruining their own lives by filing the r@pe case. I will talk about fake r@pe cases too, but it's important to consider that making the punishment stricter, will add more pressure on the victim.

Second, many activists say that if the punishment becomes stricter, it forms an incentive for the r@pist to k!ll the victim. Because if the victim is alive and reports the crime, it can mean a death sentence for them. So it'll seem safer to k!ll the victims. In fact, evidence from 141 countries has shown that by doing away with the capital punishment, the cases of r@pe decreased instead of increasing. This happens because the probability of committing a crime doesn't depend only on the severity of punishment but also on the probability of being caught. Let me explain this to you as an equation. A criminal has two variables in his mind. One, how strict the punishment will be. And the other, the probability of them being caught. We focus only on the punishment.

And how to make it stricter. But we forget that the probability matters too. In fact, Criminologist Daniel Nagin said that the best way to reduce crime is to increase the probability not the punishment. As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned it's not that there are fewer r@pes but there are fewer reported r@pes. Because women aren't empowered enough to complain. According to the Saudi courts, to convict a r@pist, there should be two male eyewitnesses. In a r@pe case, how will the victim bring two male eyewitnesses? Telling girls not to wear revealing clothes, or not to go out late at night, are simply some short-term solutions. A long-term solution will only be possible, when our society's beliefs change. Thankfully, many organisations are trying to do this. But then things start regressing due to fake r@pe cases. This is Vishnu Tiwari from Uttar Pradesh.

In September 2000, he was 23 years old when he was convicted for a r@pe. But 20 years later, the Allahabad High Court stated that there wasn't sufficient evidence for the conviction. Vishnu said that the dispute was actually about a piece of land. He hadn't even talked to the girl. They just wanted money. Vishnu is not the only one. How big is this problem of fake r@pe accusations? Based on NCRB data, there were 45,000 reported r@pe cases in 2022, but only 27.5% of them resulted in convictions. There was no conviction in more than 75% of the cases. This can be due to two things. First, the victims are pressured into changing their statements. Second, the r@pe case might be entirely fake. In 2013, data journalist Rukmini Srinivasan studied 500 r@pe cases. She said that in 25% of the cases, parents filed r@pe cases on behalf of the girl because the girl ran away from home with a boy. So these 25% of the cases are entirely false. Data from Jaipur showed that 43% of the 330 reported r@pe cases were false. Retired Justice of the Supreme Court B.N. Shrikrishna said that "The r@pe laws were being misused in this country. There is no doubt about it." Unfortunately, due to such issues, a serious issue like se*ual violence is being debated. Because of the eroding public trust. So when the real victim goes to file a case, is often doubted by the people. Despite this problem, many people are trying to solve India's se*ual violence issue. Like the NGO Breakthrough in Haryana which launched a program called Taro Ki Toli. They go to the government schools in the state, to have open discussions with children about gender roles. It's not just a one-time 30-minute long session. After 2.5 years of these sessions they have made a positive impact. Research shows that children who participated in this program, developed a more progressive attitude. If we want to improve our society, we need such programs.

Cradit:- Mohak Mangal

Demanding capital punishment can give us a short-term boost, but always remember that long-term solutions are possible only with such educational programs.