This article includes accounts of rape and physical assault Reports of the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in New Delhi earlier this week has thrust the issue of women's safety in India back into the spotlight. Three men who posed as police officers took the girl away at gunpoint to a secluded part of the Aastha Kunj Park, according to local media. Security around New Delhi's parks has been stepped up since the incident, with a focus on improved lighting, increased security and more frequent patrols.
Anita Kunwar, a 18-year-old college student from city's East Delhi district said a lot has changed after what happened at Aastha Kunj Park. "Women and girls across the city are incredibly wary, anxious, and deeply concerned about their safety said Kunwar. "An incident like this, especially in a public space where people go to relax, shatters your sense of security." "Reports of these ghastly sexual assaults seem to have risen in recent years," said Deepika Singh, a university student in New Delhi.
"It is as if these crimes are being normalized. It is sickening." "The assaults have also become more brutal and aggressive," the 19-year-old told DW. "But I am not going to change the way I live my life because of them." Hundreds of students, many of them women, marched in New Delhi a few days after the alleged assault, demanding greater safety in public spaces.
"Our body is our own," some placards said, while others demanded freedom to go out at night without fear. Students at nearby Lady Shri Ram College have also highlighted poorly lit roads, limited police presence and gaps in surveillance around the campus. The concerns are not confined to one neighborhood or one city.
In Bihar state's Jamui district, a video showing the sexual assault of a teenage girl and the beating of her male friend triggered widespread anger last month. Police arrested three minors and formed a special investigation team. Elsewhere in Bihar, a woman was allegedly raped and brutally assaulted in a hotel room on Sunday after travelling to the Begusarai district for work.
A video of the assault later circulated on social media. Punjab's Lovely Professional University (LPU) suspended classes and postponed mid-term examinations after a protest over an alleged rape turned violent on Sunday with protesters clashing with the police and vandalism being reported. Across India, sexual violence is a major issue, with more than 80 rapes reported to police every day, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau.
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