By Matija Šerić
From time to time, incidents involving tourists draw global attention to the problem of harassment and rape of women in India. This troubling phenomenon could rightly be described as one of the greatest shames of the modern Republic of India. Unfortunately, despite significant efforts by authorities and civil society in recent years, rape culture in India remains socially tolerated.
Rape – Something Disturbingly Common in India
Rape, which is essentially a form of sexual terrorism, is often treated as a normalized social phenomenon. Society and public institutions frequently justify and protect perpetrators from legal consequences for their acts of sexual brutality. In this narrative, women—despite being the clear victims of violence—are blamed for the attacks, and they are expected to accept that sexual predators can continue to walk the streets without punishment.
This rape culture pollutes the public sphere. In many Indian films and television series, such behavior is often trivialized or implicitly justified, and these narratives spill over into real life. In everyday street conversations among young men, the language of rape is frequently present. Many common insults in India include references to sexual acts with women without their consent.
The Brutality of Gang Rapes
Particularly horrifying are gang rapes, which represent one of the greatest fears for women in India. Global media periodically report shocking cases in which women are gang raped, mutilated, and left to die on the streets. When such incidents attract national attention, public outrage erupts and women’s organizations organize protests. Yet the uproar soon fades.
Victims are left traumatized, angry, and abandoned. Gang rape is sometimes used by criminal groups as a weapon against members of lower castes and Muslims.
The Case of Phoolan Devi
One of the first gang rape cases to gain widespread attention occurred in 1980 when Phoolan Devi, a teenage girl from a lower caste who had joined a criminal band, revealed that she had been abducted and repeatedly gang raped by attackers from higher castes. She later returned with members of her gang and killed 22 perpetrators, most of whom belonged to upper castes.
It was a rare example of a woman seeking and achieving revenge. However, the rape of Phoolan Devi would probably never have made newspaper headlines had it not been followed by such a bloody act of retaliation. The event drew attention to the profound caste inequalities in India, a problem as significant as the country’s religious tensions.
The Case of Bilkis Bano
In early 2002, brutal violence between Hindus and Muslims swept through the state of Gujarat. Bilkis Bano, a 19-year-old Muslim woman who was five months pregnant at the time, was gang raped by a Hindu mob. The attackers also killed 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter.
In early 2024, India’s Supreme Court reinstated life sentences for 11 men who had raped Bano and murdered her relatives. The men had been released in 2022 and welcomed with flowers by Hindu nationalists. The case once again demonstrated the deep tensions between Hindus and Muslims in parts of India.
The Case of Nirbhaya
Another notorious case occurred on December 16, 2012, in Munirka, a district in South Delhi. Jyoti Singh, a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern, was beaten, gang raped, and tortured on a private bus in which she was traveling with her male friend Avnindra Pratap Pandey. Six men, including the driver, raped the woman and beat her friend before throwing both of them onto the street.
Singh was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. Eleven days after the attack she was transferred to Singapore, where she died two days later from her injuries.
The incident attracted massive national and international attention. Public protests erupted in New Delhi, where thousands of demonstrators clashed with security forces over the government’s failure to ensure women’s safety. Similar protests spread across other major cities.
Since Indian law prohibits the publication of rape victims’ names, the victim became widely known as Nirbhaya, meaning “fearless.” Her father later revealed her real name—Jyoti Singh—because he wanted the world to know about his daughter’s struggle and courage. Her fight and tragic death became a global symbol of resistance against sexual violence.
Of the six perpetrators, one committed suicide in prison in 2013. One juvenile offender received a three-year sentence due to his age, while four were sentenced to death and executed in 2020.
Tougher Laws Against Sexual Offenders
Following the protests, a judicial commission was established in December 2012 to review public proposals on how to amend the law to enable faster investigation and prosecution of sexual crimes. After examining around 80,000 submissions, the commission concluded that government and police failures were a major cause of crimes against women.
In 2013, President Pranab Mukherjee promulgated the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance. Several new laws were introduced, and six fast-track courts were established to handle rape cases. The age at which juvenile offenders could be tried as adults was lowered from 18 to 16.
Although the Nirbhaya case sparked widespread public debate and more women became willing to report crimes, significant improvements in women’s safety have not materialized. India’s judicial system still processes rape cases slowly, and the number of assaults continues to rise.
Negative Trends
Despite stricter laws, troubling trends have persisted. In 2018, an eight-year-old Muslim girl was drugged and gang raped for days in a Hindu temple before being murdered. In 2020, a 19-year-old Dalit woman was gang raped and later died from her injuries after her spinal cord was broken.
Attacks on foreign tourists have also attracted international attention. In 2016, a Danish tourist was gang raped by five men in a tourist district of the capital. In 2022, a British tourist was raped in front of her partner in Goa. In 2024, an Indian-American woman reported being raped in the hotel where she was staying in New Delhi.
Several countries—including the United Kingdom, the United States, and France—have issued travel advisories warning female travelers about safety risks in India.
Ninety Rapes a Day
Reports of violence against women in India have increased over the decades. According to Indian government data, in 2011 one woman was raped every 20 minutes. A decade later the situation worsened: in 2021 a rape occurred every 16 minutes.
More than 31,000 rapes were reported that year—an increase of 20 percent compared to the previous year. In other words, around 90 rapes are reported every day. In 2021 alone, authorities recorded about 2,200 gang rapes.
Research also shows that over 96 percent of rapes in India are committed by perpetrators known to the victim, and in many cases the offender is the victim’s husband. The states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest numbers of cases. The cities of New Delhi and Jaipur lead in negative statistics, while Kolkata reports the lowest numbers among major metropolitan areas.
Causes of Sexual Violence
Social activist Shabnam Hashmi has argued that rape has become normalized in India over the past decade, a trend widely condemned across Asia. She emphasized the lack of accountability that enables such brutality.
“We have seen cases where perpetrators were celebrated by parts of society and treated leniently by the judiciary. This sends a dangerous message—it emboldens criminals and leaves victims vulnerable,” Hashmi said.
According to Dr. Adfer Shah, a sociologist from New Delhi, gender-based violence is rooted in how men are raised within a society shaped by patriarchy, caste divisions, and unequal power dynamics. These conditions often foster discrimination and violence against women, as well as a lack of respect for gender equality.
Silence Instead of Reporting
Even these alarming statistics likely underestimate the true scale of the problem. Many rapes remain unreported. According to one study, 77 percent of Indian women who experienced physical or sexual violence never told anyone about it and never reported the crime.
Victims often remain silent due to social stigma and distrust in the police and judicial system. Activists say the problem is particularly severe in rural areas, where communities may shame victims and damage the social standing of their families.
“Victims are often further victimized through insults and humiliation, which discourages them from reporting crimes to the police,” said Mariam Dhawale, women’s rights activist and general secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association.
She also noted that police investigations are often mishandled and evidence is not collected promptly. Cases can drag on for years in inefficient courts, while perpetrators remain free.
The Banality of Evil
Effective prosecutions remain rare. According to government data, the conviction rate in rape cases has remained below 30 percent in recent years.
Paradoxically, constant media coverage of rape cases can desensitize society, gradually normalizing violence. Each new case becomes another disturbing but routine headline. In that sense, sexual violence risks becoming banal.
A somewhat comparable phenomenon exists with global traffic accidents. Although road accidents claim lives every day, society struggles to eliminate them. A similar pattern can be seen with violence against women in India.
How to Turn the Tide
Fear of rape—especially gang rape—never fully leaves Indian women. Many therefore travel in groups, cover themselves with scarves, carry pepper spray and GPS trackers, avoid public spaces after sunset, and in case of attack shout “fire” instead of “help” to attract attention.
However, even such precautions cannot guarantee safety.
Experts largely agree that a meaningful shift can occur only through greater efficiency in India’s police and judicial systems. Strict punishment and clear social condemnation are essential deterrents. Until the broader social climate changes and rape becomes universally recognized as an unforgivable crime, attacks against women—both Indian citizens and foreign tourists—are likely to continue.
