(“Freedom at Night, Freedom in Day”)[1]

Photo Credit: Kevin Frayer/AP[2]

By: S. Gouri Srinidhi

The young woman, dubbed as “Nirbhaya,” or “fearless” by the media, was brutally attacked in a bus after attending a movie; raped multiple times, followed by having iron rods forcibly inserted into her. Her badly bruised and mutilated body was thrown from the bus, after which she was rushed to Singapore for treatment, requiring immediate care for her severe wounds. Having suffered from immense pain, she eventually died in a hospital in Singapore. This act of violence against this innocent student would spark a movement led by enraged women and men in one of the world’s largest democracies.¹

Today, bands of Indians stand together, from the India Gate in Delhi to technological hub cities across the nation crying for change. They stand to protest the violence against women in India, with Nirbhaya as their symbol; taking to the streets, brandishing signs that call for the punishment of the rapists, changes in the government and the freedom for Indian women to move in public without fear. Such striking images of these human rights fighters in the media illustrate how “India’s Arab Spring” continues to inspire hope for change in the lives of South Asian women.

But the silence and slow reactions from leaders raises an important question: are Indians even learning from Nirbhaya’s death?

For a South Asian nation that boasts its position as the world’s largest democracy, it has blatantly ignored the issues against women through weak, irresponsible leaders. For instance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took eight days to speak out, but when he finally did, he gave a in a weak, public address of the events[3] another party leader, Rahul Gandhi, supposedly known for his interest in the Indian youth, said only the bare minimum to protect his political reputation[4]. Additionally, in a sickening address from an Indian “spiritual leader,” Araram Bapu, he felt blame was logically turned to the 23-year-old, claiming that she should have prayed in the bus to prevent the attacks.[5]

However, it is significant to note that men have joined the protests in mass movements; not necessarily to protect their sisters and wives, but angrily calling for revenge and capital punishment for the perpetrators. Rather than enlist in the movement to call for change in legislature and protection for women, groups of men are instead perpetuating the patriarchy of society, deeming their role in the protests as a way to “protect” the women. Instead of promoting the equality between genders, the voices of the men, as it has typically been in India, are heard more than the voices of millions of women. Even more repulsively, cases of men groping women within the protests itself have ironically been noted. [6]

Unfortunately, change, like most things in the South Asian nation, seems to simply be discussed, with no real action being taken. Today only four percent of Indian women who have undergone some form of sexual harassment have reported their crimes to the police, and since 1947, the incidence of rape in the nation has grown a highly disturbing 873 percent.[7][8] Augmenting matters is the fact that the police are corrupt and easily bought off, and there is a massive lack of public surveillance. Furthermore, the culture has evolved so that men who commit crimes against women receive little to no punishment. A disturbing piece of research found that despite 600 rape cases reported to officials in the city of Delhi in 2012, only one led to an actual sentencing of the crime[9]. These cases emphasize the need to transcend caste system, religion and ethnic groups, and have reached a point where immediate action must be taken—not simply discussed. It is an embarrassment that India, with a number of former female presidents and prime ministers ranks in the top five worst places in the world to be a woman[10].

As an Indian woman of the same age, I can hardly verbalize my emotions upon reading about the death of this innocent woman, Nirbhaya.  I am furious with the accounts, and disgusted with the knowledge of how the nation has handled her death. I can only hope that my outrage and sadness of Nibhaya’s death, mirrored by millions around the world, will open the eyes of the nation, and that India will, for once, not ignore its forgotten women.

Gouri Srinidhi is a Master’s candidate at the School of International Affairs at The Pennsylvania State University, with an emphasis in sustainable development in South Asia. She has worked for a number of non-governmental organizations, including Swagath Education Community Action (SECA), a grassroots, education-based organization for children in the slums of Bengaluru, India and the Didi’s Foundation for micro financing for marginalized women in Kathmandu, Nepal. She hopes to pursue her development interests, particularly in relation to global health, women’s empowerment, and poverty reduction.