December 16 2012: A , a and a Movement Urvashi Butalia This publication is one of two comparative studies on undertaken by the South Africa and the offices of the Heinrich Böll Foundation

Author Urvashi Butalia

Editor Shalini Yog

Layout Claudia Lopes

Cover Photo Ravneet Oberoi

Heinrich Boell Stiftung India C-20, Qutab Institutional Area, New - 110016 India Tel:+91 11 26854405, 26516695 Fax:+91 11 26962840 www.in.boell.org 01 introduction In 2013, the India and the South Africa offices of the Heinrich Böll Foundation embarked on a learning exchange project on sexual violence. The project produced two comparative studies which critically examined public responses to the gruesome and of Anene Booysen in South Africa and young woman in India. Considering that levels of violence against women are high in both countries, but either widely ignored or regrettably taken as normalcy in mainstream politics, what were the dynamics and specific factors and circumstances that propelled them into national and international prominence and can unpacking this influence the development of enhanced strategies to tackling endemic violence against women?

In December of 2012 the rape of a a lonely stretch of road, presumably to young woman by a group of men in die in the harsh winter cold of Delhi. the India’s capital city of Delhi gained unprecedented media attention and The moment the news of the assault led to major and continuing protests broke, huge, spontaneous protests across the country. The rape victim, erupted across the city. The bus stop a twenty three year old medical from where the two victims were student, was on her way home from picked up, is close to Jawaharlal Nehru a film show, with a male friend. The University, one of the three major two boarded a bus, assuming it to universities in the city. Hundreds of be a privately contracted public bus students and faculty walked in protest, (the transport system in Delhi draws retracing the steps of the victims. on a number of private contractors In the centre of the city, at Jantar to make up the shortfall in buses) Mantar, a space that has become and found themselves more or less known for being home to many protest alone, barring the six men, the driver marches, people gathered through and his friends, who subsequently the day and into the night, lighting brutally assaulted them, raped the candles, singing songs, performing young woman multiple times, and spontaneous plays and demanding then threw the two out of the bus on State action. Unusually, these protests

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 1 included not only women, but also godman1, Bapu, that rape men: they cut across class and caste, victims needed to treat their rapists region and geography, urban and like brothers and then rape would not rural or semi-rural, and they drew happen, or that rape happened, as unprecedented media attention both claimed by Abhijit Mukerjeee, the son at the national and international levels. of India’s President Pranab Mukerjee Questions were raised in the media, in and a Member of Parliament, only political forums, in international media to ‘dented and painted’ women. and indeed at the governmental level. Because of the sustained nature of Fearful of this spontaneous outbreak the protests and their somewhat of people’s anger, the State reacted by sympathetic treatment by the media, trying to control it – they closed down and because of the international metro stations leading to the sites of attention, pressure mounted on protest. Not to be deterred, people the Indian State to act, and in took buses and drove. The State then subsequent months, a new law closed all roads leading to the protest was put in place that extends and sites in the city centre. People reacted broadens the definition of rape. by walking. The number of places where they gathered increased and In the aftermath of these events, the diversified. In residential areas in the question has often been asked: what city, resident welfare associations was it about this particular case that – hitherto known only to involve caught the public imagination? And themselves in local issues such as was the attention only momentary drains, roads, amenities – took to or did it lead to any change? If yes, organizing candlelight marches, what was the nature of such change demanding safety for their daughters. and how, if at all, could it be tracked. And across the board, a demand arose for the State to react, for politicians A little less than two months after the to speak out – something they did, Delhi incident, another incident of belatedly, and somewhat ham- rape, this time in South Africa, caught handedly. The then Chief Minister of public attention and drew media Delhi, Sheila Dixit, finally expressed coverage internationally, although her concern and sympathy, other perhaps not on the same scale. politicians attempted to do the same, but despite this, there were also those 1 Godman is an Indian colloquial term for who claimed, like self proclaimed a type of charismatic guru in India.

2 Student protests at Raisina Hill. Credit: Nilanjana Roy / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0 /

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 3 On the face of it, the two incidents do not have much in common, except The moment perhaps for the brutality towards the victim, but it is interesting to look the news of the at them together, if only to make assault broke, a comparative analysis of how the issue of violence against women, huge, spontaneous and particularly sexual violence, is addressed in different countries. protests erupted The South African victim, a teenager called Anene Booysen, worked as a across the city... cleaner at a construction company. Unusually, these On the day in question, she had apparently gone out with friends to a protests included local pub, and had then left some time later along with some of her friends. not only women, The next morning, she was found by a security guard, still alive but but also men: they barely so. A few hours later, she died. cut across class Like the victim in India, Anene2 had been gang raped and brutally and caste, region assaulted, and the protests that followed this assault were, according and geography, to media reports, at least partially inspired by what had gone on in urban and rural India in the previous month. Unlike in India, however, the protests or semi-rural, were not sustained, nor did they and they drew draw the same kind of international media attention, although such unprecedented attention was not entirely absent. media attention 2 The law on prohibits the making public of the name of the rape both at the national victim/survivor while there is no such restriction in the South African law. This and international is why Anene Booysen is mentioned by name, while the name of the Indian rape levels. victim is withheld.

4 A Tradition 02 of Protest India is no stranger to protests. A that had galvanized the city: one, vibrant, if imperfect, democracy, a series of angry demonstrations its history, like that of South Africa, against the acquittal of a murderer shows how civil protest has been with political connections who was used as a weapon to mobilize accused of murdering a young people to fight for change. Indeed, woman tending the bar at a party, the history of India’s freedom and two, a series of huge mass movement, rather like the history protests led by a Gandhian, Anna of South Africa’s anti-apartheid Hazare, and a civil rights activist, movement, describes varied Arvind Kejriwal (who has since protests such as against the on to become the Chief Minister imposition of a tax on salt, against of Delhi) against corruption, an foreign cloth, and many others emotive issue in India. that together created the ground for the departure of the colonial During both of these protests, rulers. people from all walks of life came together to raise their voices and Mass protest has continued to be occupied the large public grounds used as a pressure tactic against where protests were being held, the State in independent India camping there for days on end, too, whether it is against the defying the State’s attempts to building of huge dams, or against block their travel routes and nuclear reactors, or for the right to demanding State action. The information, or education, or work December 16 protests are firmly and more. Delhi’s protest marches located in this tradition. What in the wake of the December 16 marked them as different was that incident were drawing on this long this was the first time that people history, but also, on a more recent from diverse backgrounds were history of protests over two issues protesting on what is generally

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 5 seen as a ‘women’s issue’. In the more – have all come about as a past, ever since the mid-seventies result of campaigns conducted which are seen as the starting by women’s groups across the point for the current phase of country. However, by and large, women’s activism, feminist groups participation in these campaigns had used protest like all others has been limited to women to demand change and action. – most men have kept away, Recent changes in different laws seeing these as ‘women’s issues’. for example – the law on marriage, This is why the post December 16 inheritance, rape, domestic protests became so significant. violence, , and Recent changes in different laws for example – the law on marriage, inheritance, rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, and more – have all come about as a result of campaigns conducted by women’s groups across the country. However, by and large, participation in these campaigns has been limited to women – most men have kept away, seeing these as ‘women’s issues’. This is why the post December 16 protests became so significant.

6 Credit: Manish Jaju VIOLENCE AGAINST 03 Violence against women is not much mobilization and action, new in India. Nor is the issue of and campaigns have focused not rape. National Crime Records only on domestic violence but also Bureau statistics put the number political violence, the violence of of cases of reported rapes in India war and pogroms, violence at the at one every twenty or twenty hands of the State and much more. two minutes. In the year 2011, Although certain changes – such some 24,206 cases or rapes were as a recent (2005) law on domestic reported in India. It is well known violence – have come about, what that reported cases, wherever is clear is that violence against they are, touch only the tip of women continues to be perhaps the iceberg. Actual numbers, if the most significant obstacle to they could be counted, are much what is seen as ‘development’ and higher – and as a general rule of its perpetrators enjoy a degree thumb, reported figures need to of impunity that is shocking and be multiplied at least by a factor of that is premised not only on legal ten to get a more accurate picture. tolerance and social sanction, but also on deep-rooted beliefs in the As in other societies in the world, secondary status of women. violence against women remains, still, the least talked about and If Indian society is tolerant of most hidden of issues – the violence against women, so conspiracy of silence around them also is South African society: being created by virtually everyone institutionlised involved, perpetrators, victims, at the hands of whites (despite society at large, laws, religion and apartheid, the black woman’s patriarchal practices. In the Indian body was always meant to be women’s movement, however, available for the masters), and its this is an issue that has dominated widespread prevalence in post

8 apartheid society, are well known. his daughter’s studies, allowing Like India, South Africa too has her to fulfill her dream. On the fairly progressive legislation (with day in question, she had been being recognized) to see a film with a male friend – but its implementation leaves a such friendships, earlier frowned great deal to be desired. In both upon, represent much of what is countries rape, sexual assault happening between young people and other forms of violence in the new India – and they were against women are widespread, returning home at a reasonable and while the occasional case hour of the night, he escorting may get public attention, most her to her home. In other words, remain in the realm of invisibility. in every way, she was the ‘normal’ This is why, when something young woman you might meet on erupts into public attention, it is the street. Everyone could feel for worth noting why and how this her. happens. In most societies, women What was it about this particular who have had to face rape rape case then that caught the are often stigmatized, as public imagination? There isn’t a if they are the guilty ones. single clear answer to this question, While this cuts across the board, but perhaps some speculations it is true that certain kinds of rape, can be hazarded. The young or the rape of certain women woman in question was an aspiring evokes more outrage than that of medical student, she belonged not others. Caste rape, for example, to the wealthy privileged class, nor where women are particularly to the really poor class or caste, targeted by upper caste men and she was not fully rural, or urban. sometimes by their own men, is so Her family, the father a baggage naturalized in Indian culture, that loader at Delhi airport, the mother it evokes very little outrage, and a housewife, had migrated from even the legal machinery sees it their village to the city seeking a as something that is a part of our better life in this they represented society. the aspirations of thousands of other Indians who follow similar Rape by the army, common paths. Unusually the father had in places where the army has sold some land to gain money for impunity such as in certain parts of

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 9 northeastern India, and in Kashmir, This one, however, did. Although is seen often as collateral damage, protests erupted in the streets and sometimes even permissible of Delhi almost immediately the for those ‘poor deprived’ army incident took place, and were men who are defending the sustained over a considerable nation. The woman’s body, her period of time, it took the political autonomy, is the price that is paid establishment of the country for the defence of the nation. a few days to react, and it was So these evoke less outrage. not until the incident and the Not so long before the young subsequent protests had received medical student was raped in considerable media coverage, Delhi, we saw the brutal rapes that political leaders in Delhi of Dalit women in the state of felt obliged to speak out: clearly and in , but those violence against women was not incidents did not lead to the same high on their agenda. kind of reaction.

Although protests erupted in the streets of Delhi almost immediately the incident took place, and were sustained over a considerable period of time, it took the political establishment of the country a few days to react, and it was not until the incident and the subsequent protests had received considerable media coverage, that political leaders in Delhi felt obliged to speak out: clearly violence against women was not high on their agenda.

10 Delhi protests Credit: Nilanjana Roy / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0 /

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 11 04 the media The media, meanwhile, were out in mentioning the name of the rape full force, although media reactions victim was adhered to, her family were mixed, turning from the was left alone to grieve, especially initial hawk-like and sensationalist after the victim died, and some ones to a more measured, more media also took the trouble to serious reporting, sustained over visit the homes of the rapists and an unprecedented period of time. examine the social and economic There were ways in which media conditions there that could have reaction, while adhering to the led to the men becoming so media tenet of finding sensation violent. where there is none, leaping to conclusions and then retracting, The international media too kept was also, in this incident, different. the spotlight on India, although for different reasons. For many A number of talk shows involved – for example Chinese media – feminist activists, rape survivors this became a way of showing up who were willing to speak out how bad India was towards its were encouraged to do so, women. For others, for example, politicians who responded in their western media, this became a way usual prejudiced ways were put on of showing the ‘backwardness’ of the spot and questioned, serious India, its attitude to women, and editorials appeared in the papers. of showing how violent a society There is little doubt that the media India was. The spotlight was took the issue seriously – other firmly turned away onto another cases that happened around the place, another culture, and no time were also given considerable questions were asked, except in coverage for example – but rare instances, about how bad not without their usual dose of things were for women in their sensationalism. The legal bar on own countries. For example, India

12 Credit: Ramesh Lalwani

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 13 began rapidly to be called the ‘rape one purpose and that was to cast capital’ of the world, and countries a harsh spotlight on the Indian also issued travel advisories to State’s self representation as tourists and others planning to ‘India shining’, an image that had visit the country. been already quite badly dented by the country’s poor economic However, no matter how blind performance and its declining it was to its own realities (rape growth rate. The question that statistics in the United States began to be asked was: how could for example, show a higher a country that saw itself as a super incidence of rape than in India power, an economic giant, afford but that did not stop reporters to treat its women so badly. No from representing India as the doubt this also pushed the Indian worst place in the world) media government into taking rapid attention, particularly that of the action. international media, did serve media attention, particularly that of the international media, did serve one purpose and that was to cast a harsh spotlight on the Indian State’s self representation as ‘India shining’, an image that had been already quite badly dented by the country’s poor economic performance and its declining growth rate. The question that began to be asked was: how could a country that saw itself as a super power, an economic giant, afford to treat its women so badly.

14 Credit: Ramesh Lalwani

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 15 THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT 05 & the state For women activists who had for the Usha Mehra committee, long been demanding changes disappeared into some dark hole in the law on rape, and security and its report has not yet been for women on the streets, this made public and is not accessible, incident launched them into a although in recent months more intense engagement with information has leaked out that both the State and the public on the committee had recommended these issues. While the protest one stop rape crisis centers in all demonstrations in most places states. were heterogeneous and cut across class and gender lines, it The second committee – the was women activists who kept Justice Verma Committee – made attention focused on the issue up of three members, was at first at hand. It was they who argued received with some skepticism against and advised caution on by women activists who asked the growing demand for the why, for example, the committee death penalty, pointing out how did not include even one woman it had achieved little across the lawyer or activist who would have world, they who tried to keep the direct knowledge of the situation protests from being politicized on the ground. They pointed and turning into slanging matches to the presence of several such between political parties; they who women in the legal field, including lobbied with politicians and who one, Indira Jaising, appointed by put pressure on the State to act. the government as the Additional Solicitor General of India. However This had the desired reaction and these fears were soon laid to rest the State instituted a committee when the Justice Verma Committee to look into the question of rape. actively solicited women’s The findings of the first committee, cooperation and invited women’s

16 organizations from across the given by the government – and country to come and ‘give evidence’ the report was widely hailed as on the sorts of changes they felt the most progressive document should be instituted in the new law. about women to come out of India The committee’s mandate since independence and certainly was to come up with a set of since the publication, in 1974, of recommendations that could be the Committee on the Status of incorporated into new legislation Women Report. The Justice Verma on rape and sexual violence that Committee Report did not limit the State would then put in place. itself to the issue of sexual assault In doing this, the committee but deliberated and wrote on a showed itself open to a wide range wide range of issues to do with of issues including questions like women in India. the death penalty, those relating to sexual identity, particularly that of transgenders, those relating to gender specificity or neutrality While the protest of rapists and rape victims, support services for survivors, demonstrations in and more. These questions were intensively debated in the two most places were days that the committee met with activists and discussed their heterogeneous written submissions. Among the issues highlighted by women’s and cut across groups were: a change in the definition of rape beyond just class and gender penile penetration to take in penetration by all sorts of objects; lines, it was the recognition of marital rape; bringing in gender neutrality in the women activists definition of rape victims so that transgenders, men and boys could who kept attention also be included, and more. In the end, the Committee produced focused on the its report – one day short of the thirty day deadline it had been issue at hand.

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 17 THE NEW 06 LAW ON RAPE One of the direct results of the such as stalking etc were also now protest marches and the findings criminalized. of the Justice Verma Committee was the drafting of new legislation In many ways, the new law built on rape, which first made its upon the changes that had come appearance as an Ordinance about in the rape law in 1983, the and was later discussed in first major changes to be made Parliament and adopted as an act. since the colonial period. At the For women’s groups, this victory, time, a sustained movement while important, was a limited against rape at the national level one. The new law did not take had forced the State to sit up and into account – unlike the South take notice and bring in some key African legislation – the issue clauses in the law. Most significant of marital rape. It brought in among these was a change that the death penalty, something held that in cases of custodial women’s groups had, by and large, rape, that is, when the victim could been opposed to. It also did not be said to be in the perpetrator’s accept fully the demand made by custody, as an employee or held many groups that the perpetrator in a police station, if an accusation of rape be gender specific, of rape was made, and if medical i.e. male, but the victim be gender evidence showed that rape had neutral because, as women’s taken place, the accused would groups pointed out, men and be presumed guilty until he transgenders were also targets of could prove himself innocent, rape and this was one of the most and the minimum mandatory silenced aspects of sexual assault. punishment would be ten years. But the law did bring in a wider range of crimes under the ambit photograph: of sexual assault, so that things Credit: Ramesh Lalwani

18 16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 19 Generally opposed to harsh verdict was only delivered some punitive measures, women’s nine months after the case had groups had, by and large, actually happened, and the court supported this change because of awarded the death penalty to the the numbers of reported incidents rapists, one of whom was seen as of rape by the police. In the years a juvenile and was therefore put between then and now, other in the hands of the juvenile justice developments, such as the use court and another died in prison of rape as a weapon of war, for in mysterious circumstances. example in sectarian violence, had While feminists welcomed the led to the need for mass rape to decision to bring about a speedy be recognized. The new law, with conclusion to the case, theirs were its extended definition of rape, the only voices attempting to look brought in some of the clauses at this decision in a balanced way. women had asked for, and left The legal system in India is mired out some key ones. For many in all kinds of delays engineered by people, the feminist opposition lawyers who drag cases on for long to punitive justice in the shape years and judges who are more of the death penalty seemed than willing to let this happen and difficult to understand because of who often are party to such delays a widespread belief that the death themselves. This has resulted in penalty would act as a deterrent. an enormous backlog of cases at Equally, the feminist insistence on all levels of the court system in recognition of marital rape came India, with people often waiting up against strong opposition as for justice for years, sometimes most people believe marriage to decades. Feminist groups have be a sacrament, and somehow been critical of this system of within that, the belief that the man delays, pointing out that often, has the right to the woman’s body in cases of sexual violence and seems to have almost a kind of assault, by the time judgments stranglehold. come, the victims have had to live with the stigma of being raped Outside of Parliament, the promise women (an injustice in itself), of fast track courts was also upheld, or they have moved away from with this case being handed over places where the incidents took to a fast track court and tried on a place and cannot be traced, or they day to day basis, even though the have no interest any longer in the

20 legal process. It is in this context that the government’s decision to one of the things hand over this case – and others that would come up – to fast track that marked courts was welcomed, but feminist groups were also aware that this this particular would mean that other cases in the purview of fast track courts, interaction would have to be delayed in order to accommodate the new ones. between the State Thus the interests of one set of justice seekers would be pitted and women's against those of another. groups was that it Nevertheless, while keeping the dialogue alive, and being critical did not turn into of gaps in the new law, women’s groups were also open to working with the changes that had come a confrontation about. Indeed, one of the things that marked this particular in which women's interaction between the State and women’s groups was that it did not groups rejected turn into a confrontation in which women’s groups rejected the State the State and and refused to work with it = twenty years ago this kind of reaction refused to work would have been a real possibility. While recognizing the limitations with it = twenty of the new legislation, women’s groups raised questions about its years ago this gaps, and resolved that they would continue to engage with the State kind of reaction to bring in the changes that they felt needed to be there. A critique would have been was mounted of the State’s refusal to include marital rape, and its a real possibility.

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 21 refusal to take away the army’s pointed, for example, to the special powers and privileges and increasing evidence of the rape bring rape by men in the armed of Dalit women across India and forces, especially in areas where emphasized the need for the State the Armed Forces Special Powers to turn its urgent attention to this, Act was in existence, under its showing how such rape did not purview. In Kashmir and the result in the same kind of outrage northeastern states for example, that the December 16 incident had where there have been long, raised, because of the widespread sustained movements against the internalization of caste inequality Indian State, the army functions in India. These engagements under an act entitled the Armed continued post the bringing in of Forces Special Powers Act that the law, and do so today. In this, gives it unprecedented powers, they show not only the maturity of and unprecedented impunity. women activists but a willingness to see the question of violence Nor did women’s activism stop against women in its entirety, at engaging with the State on rather than look at it piecemeal the question of law. During and address it piecemeal. the deliberations of the Verma Committee women’s groups had provided the members of the committee with detailed information, research and recommendations on the need for ensuring safety for women in urban areas, providing better lighting across the country, in working with companies employing women in the information technology area where women had to travel at all hours of the day and night – in other words on a wide range of issues. Another key issue that women’s groups highlighted photograph: was that of caste rape: they Credit: Manish Jaju

22

THE WIDENING DIALOGUE ON 07 GENDER AND VIOLENCE IN INDIA The December 16 rape case also led education in schools and if this to much reflection on what were was to be done, how it could be the root causes of violence against brought in. At a recent discussion women in India and how these on the need for sex education, can be addressed. Interestingly, counselors who work in schools discussions and conversations on spoke of how many more people the subject, which would earlier coming to them shared their have been limited to women’s anxieties about the prevalence of groups or women activists, now, violence against women and how perhaps because of the media they could deal with it. attention, became more wide- ranging. Thus schools in many Surprisingly, the media also did cities began discussions with their not give up their focus on violence students on why women faced against women, keeping up their violence, their unequal status reporting of cases and a number in Indian society and how this of subsequent incidents came impacted society as a whole. Such to light. Indeed police statistics interactions were not only limited showed that in the three months to elite schools, but spread across following the December 16 rape the board with municipal schools case there had been a spurt in and non formal institutions also reported cases of rape, which taking part in them. had almost doubled, leading to speculation about whether the Anecdotal evidence also suggests number of cases had actually that parents in different places increased or whether more showed considerable concern for women were coming out to report. the safety and security of their children, asking whether it would None of this, however, answered not be useful to institute sex the question of the prevalence of

24 and deep acceptability for gender have also, over the years become based violence in India. Why was increasingly blurred. With the it that in a society that at some spread of television, the mobile levels offers considerable space phone, and the wide availability to women, there continues to be of consumer goods, comes also such deep prejudice against them? the desire to possess these goods. There are no easy answers to this This, coupled with the failure of question. governance and the absence of the State from the lives of people Among the answers that are often who are often just on the outskirts offered is the fact that India isa of the city and who lead very hard deeply traditional society and both lives, makes for a tension that the tradition and culture in this country Indian state has not yet been able firmly place women in an inferior to deal with. position. While there is no doubt of the truth of this statement, One of the remarkable things it is also true that in the last few about the December 16 case was decades India has urbanized that for the first time, different rapidly and many changes have questions began to be asked. come about on the ground. In There was a curiosity about who urban areas, women for example the rapists were, what sort of are now coming out into public life conditions they came from, what and taking up new kinds of jobs, led them to the city and why jobs that were not open to them they were so hostile to the young previously such as working in call woman who became their victim, centres, in business processing and indeed to the young man who and information technology was accompanying her. companies. These new forms of economic engagement often While these questions cannot be result in increased self-confidence easily answered, it is clear that among women, a different sense of the men who committed the self, and the willingness to change. rape came themselves from poor The question, however, remains – homes where violence towards is the social milieu around them women was not uncommon, and ready for this kind of change? where conditions of life were As well, although the lines between harsh. But this is not the only city and village remain sharp, they reason. Economic and social

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 25 tensions can lead to violence and of rapes will therefore not even be that violence can take the form of recognized, let alone dealt with in hitting out at the most vulnerable, legal or social terms. in this case women. But as the December 16 incident showed, the As well, in most societies, and men had committed one robbery India is no exception, rapists enjoy just before this incident so sexual a sort of impunity that encourages assault was not the only thing on them to continue to use rape their minds. Also, while economic as a weapon to keep women in tensions can contribute to rape, subjugation. In places like Kashmir it would be a mistake to look at and the northeast in India, or in that as the only contributing factor. cases of caste rape, conviction As is well known, most sexual rates are so low as to be negligible. assaults and rapes take place not Indeed, in Kashmir for example, in the public world, but inside the raising the issue of sexual violence home and from known people and is seen as contributing to the unless this is addressed, it will be anti-nationalism of Kashmir. This difficult to move ahead. is how for example the rape of 30 women in Kunan Poshpora in This is also why the State’s 1991 was dismissed by the Indian reluctance to recognize marital state as a fabrication, although for rape as a crime is a serious twenty years or more no woman lacuna. The message that this in those villages has been able sends out is simply this: that if to marry because of the stigma. rape is legalized, as it is if it is not Similarly, action in cases of the recognized within marriage for rape of Dalit women is often slow the conclusion then is that if the and negligible, thereby leading to man ‘owns’ the woman he can the conclusion that some rapes rape her, then it is acceptable, and are more acceptable than others. it is only where it is not legalized, i.e. if it takes place outside of marriage, that it becomes a crime. From seeing rape within marriage as ‘legal’ it is not a long stretch to begin to see rape within the home, within the family, as legal. photograph: And this means that the majority Credit: Manish Jaju

26 16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 27 08 CONCLUSION Much has happened in India in question, the general speculation, the last year and a half to keep among women activists and indeed violence against women at the among the police force, was that centre of public attention. more women were indeed coming out to speak. Police personnel The December 16 rape case led who refuse to register complaints to considerable rethinking on of sexual assault are punishable the issue of sexual assault and under the new provisions of rape in India and nearly a year the law, which was seen as an later, one of the important things enabling step for women to to note is that the subject has report. It was also during this time not disappeared from the public that a survivor of in agenda. During this period, , Suzette Jordan, took the other incidents of sexual assault brave decision to speak out about came to public attention and to what happened to her, despite which December 16 became a allegations by the ruling party in sort of reference point. Statistics that her allegation provided by the police in Delhi and of rape was politically motivated. other cities showed that in Delhi Suzette’s assertion that she would specifically, reported cases of rape fight and that rape was not the had gone up almost three times in worst thing that could happen to a period of six months following a woman, was important in raising the December 16 case. Were these a different kind of dialogue on just copycat crimes or was it that the issue. Subsequently, another women were actually coming survivor of gang rape, a young out to report more, following photojournalist from , the promise of rapid action post while not revealing her identity, December 16? While it was not used her media access to keep easy to find an answer to this the issue on the public agenda.

28 Around the time of the December of a well known magazine Tehelka, 16 case, an incident that came led to his arrest for questioning. to be known as the Suryaneli The trial in this case has, at the case, that of the repeated rape, time of writing, not yet begun. over a prolonged period, and by different men, of a poor young It is in this context that we need woman from Kerala, and the to look at the question of whether alleged involvement of powerful anything has changed at all since politicians in it, remained in the December 16. While it is difficult to eye of the media. say whether change has been at all widespread, or indeed what its Shortly after the new law on rape scale has been, the fact that there was enacted, the government is now much more public attention took a long overdue step, that to issues of sexual violence is of bringing in a law on sexual something that is important to harassment which had, till then, note. Women activists point to functioned as a set of guidelines other things worth noting: the suggested by the Supreme Court involvement, in issues that were of India. While this law too was previously seen only as ‘women’s not entirely to the satisfaction of issues’ of young men who are women activists, it nonetheless willing to stand up and be counted came into effect and, when read in and to speak out for women. conjunction with the law on rape, Equally, speaking out against created a climate in which sexual women, or making anti women violence could not now be treated statements in public, is now not with such impunity or indeed so easy and most politicians would ignored if women were able to think twice before doing so. Many speak out about it. A high profile women activists will say that while case of allegations against self it is difficult to pinpoint change, proclaimed godman Asaram Bapu, their sense is that something who had earlier made statements has begun to shift somewhere. about women treating their rapists However, notwithstanding the as brothers, led to his arrest and importance of even conversations incarceration despite considerable and discussions around the issue, opposition from his followers. it is not until we begin to address And later, another high profile the deep-seated acceptability of case involving Tarun Tejpal, editor violence against women in our

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 29 society and look at it in all its took up cudgels on behalf of the manifestations – so marital rape, survivors and gathered together a army rape, caste rape – that we 50-woman strong group to file the will begin to start the process of petition. Today, they are working addressing this issue. The process together to break the silence on of thinking may have begun, this particular history, pooling but there is still a considerable their energies not only to fight the distance to go. case but also to provide a record of this history in the form of a Change, in a country the size and book. The attention this group of complexity of India, is always women brought to the issue after difficult to measure. In the end, it a gap of two decades has already is often anecdotal evidence that borne results with men who had provides the possibility of hope. earlier participated in ‘covering A few months after the December up’ and had asserted that nothing 16 incident, a group of young had happened, now coming out women from Kashmir, all in their to reveal how they had been twenties, took an unprecedented pressurized into taking what were step. They filed a petition in the clearly compromised stances. courts, asking for a review and It took the unfortunate rape and reopening of the Kunan-Poshpora death of the young woman in Delhi case, referred to above, a case to galvanize her sisters across the of mass rape by the army, in two country into action: sometimes, villages, Kunan and Poshpora one tragedy can act as a catalyst in Kupwara district in Kashmir. for change. Despite strong evidence to the contrary, two investigative reports Such a process of change may had held that there was no truth not have begun in the same way in the claim of rape made by the in South Africa with the Booysen 30 victims from the two villages. case. But it is significant that in the However, over the years, these eyes of many in the world, the two victims lived – and some of them cases were often linked, providing died - with the stigma of rape, and evidence of the fact that violence it was only in 2012 that, inspired against women remains an issue by the protests in Delhi, six worldwide, no matter what the level young women, who were infants of ‘development’ of a particular when the case had taken place, country. What is also important

30 is that the protests and activism perhaps even hope that change surrounding the December 16 is not only necessary, it is also case in India resonated across the possible. world, providing inspiration and in the eyes of many in the world, the (south africa and the india rape) cases were often linked, providing evidence of the fact that violence against women remains an issue worldwide, no matter what the level of 'development' of a particular country. What is also important is that the protests and activism surrounding the December 16 case in India resonated across the world, providing inspiration and perhaps even hope that change is not only necessary, it is also possible.

16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 31 Credit: Manish Jaju

32 16 December 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement 33 In December of 2012 the rape of a young woman by a group of men in the India’s capital city of Delhi gained unprecedented media attention and led to major and continuing protests across the country. A little less than two months after the Delhi incident, another incident of rape, this time in South Africa, caught public attention and drew media coverage internationally. Both young women were gang-raped, brutally attacked and died fighting for their lives. Both cases received a great deal of publicity and public outcry however considering that levels of violence against women are high in both countries, but either widely ignored or regrettably taken as normalcy in mainstream politics, what were the dynamics and specific factors and circumstances that propelled them into national and international prominence and can unpacking this influence the development of enhanced strategies to tackling endemic violence against women?

The India and the South Africa offices of the Heinrich Böll Foundation have embarked on a learning exchange project on sexual violence producing two comparative studies. December 16th 2012: A Rape, a Murder and a Movement is the India study on sexual violence. This publication analyses media, political and social responses to the rape of the young woman and it explores whether these resulted in any tangible social transformation.

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