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India Mumbai Gang-rape: Five Held Over Attack On Photo-journalist

Jan 6, 2005
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Mumbai gang-rape: five held over attack on photo-journalist

Woman taken to hospital following attack in abandoned textile mill in one of the city's fastest-growing neighbourhoods

Maseeh Rahman in Delhi
theguardian.com, Friday 23 August 2013 10.28 BST


A woman working on an assignment to photograph old buildings in Mumbai was raped by five men on Thursday evening in an abandoned textile mill, provoking national outrage similar to that following last year's fatal gang-rape of a physiotherapist in Delhi.

The photojournalist was working on a photo feature on the crumbling residential buildings of former textile mill workers for a Mumbai-based English-language magazine.

She was taken to the Jaslok hospital after the attack, where doctors said her medical condition was stable.

Police arrested five men from the area in connection with the gang-rape, but the Mumbai commissioner, Satya Pal Singh, refused to give any details about those arrested, saying it was "a sensitive case".

"The woman, who is around 22 years old, had gone inside the Shakti Mills compound at about 6pm along with a young man who was carrying the cameras," Singh said. "Five men who were inside the derelict textile mill first accused the woman's companion of being wanted for a murder, tied him up with a belt, then took the woman aside and took turns raping her."

After the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapist on a Delhi bus last December, Mumbai was often cited as an Indian city where women could feel safe on the streets.

"Mumbai was always safe for women, but in recent years the emphasis of the police and the home department has shifted from protecting women to restricting women's freedom," said Kavita Krishnan, a women's activist.

Krishnan recalled recent instances of "moral policing" in the city, with overzealous policemen targeting women in restaurants and bars. Maharashtra state's home minister, RR Patil, has also focused on closing down bars where women dance on stage, and wants to retain the ban despite strictures from India's supreme court.

"Mumbai's famous textile mill area was once one of the safest neighbourhoods in the city, with men and women working together," said Krishnan. "It's sad that this has happened now."

"Mumbai will feel safe for women again only if police focus on protecting us, not restricting us," she said. A month ago there was an acid attack on a woman in a suburb and last Sunday an American woman was attacked and robbed on a local train in the city's business district.

"Like every woman in Mumbai, I have held on desperately to the hope that women are safe in this city," blogged journalist Deepanjana Pal. "Yesterday, that faith was brutally violated."

After the Delhi gang-rape, the law was amended to make it more difficult for rapists to get off lightly or escape punishment. After Thursday evening's outrage in Mumbai, there are demands once again for a stricter law.

"There has to be deterrence. Must have stricter laws," tweeted the union minister, Kapil Sibal, who is also a prominent lawyer.

source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/23/gang-rape-photo-journalist-mumbai-outcry
 

Brother Onam

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Sat Sri Akal,
I remember about a week after the unbelievable horror of the Nirbhaya rape and murder, when anybody with a scrap of humanity was shattered by that incident, I recall another such gang-rape on a bus taking place in Punjab. In the wake of that awful death, some guys were inspired to duplicate that crime!
My God, my God, what a culture we've brought about; what a void of humanity, where low-lifes set out to inflict this type of misery on another daughter. Inconceivable.
 

Harkiran Kaur

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This is what happens in a society where everyone even the girls grow up believing they are worth much less than men. Right from birth... even boy babies are celebrated when girls are not. When boys grow up objectifying girls as mere possessions, it's easy for them to rationalize what they are doing in their heads, even when most sane people would know right from wrong. The change has to happen at the society level. If India goes on teaching their daughters that they are merely there to please men, and the boys are taught the same, then when that generation grows up, those same boys become men, will think nothing of objectifying women as playthings for their amusement. It also partly stems from the sexual repression of Indian society in general. The frustration just builds and builds in some men until they do something they never thought they would do.

Not quite Muslim society, but a quote someone used about Islamic society applies here:

...We live in a society where girls are taught that they must do everything to avoid being raped, instead of teaching the boys not to rape in the first place.

In October / Nov when I am in India I am not going alone anywhere... and if its just me and my friend (who is male) we still aren't going anywhere alone where he could be beaten and I could still be raped. Daylight and crowds only....
 

spnadmin

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Cause for alarm!

When the people of India are making a valiant effort to change centuries of contempt and abuse of women, that effort needs to be supported, not undermined by words of contempt for women and their simple justice. What has Gurbani done for us if we are more concerned with the translation of words and tuks, and indifferent to its message of justice?

Rape is a crime. Often missed is that even very small babies and elderly women are raped. Rape is not motivated by sexual excitement. Rapists are not victims of the wiles or the shortcomings of women. Rape is an act of anger and comes from the need to control. Rapists are encouraged to be criminals when anyone encourages them to "blame the victim." Rape is an act of entitlement by the rapist. So why at SPN would anyone blame a women who has been raped, or make excuses for the rapist?

The rapist thinks that the victim was there to be taken; society will judge her for her wrongdoings. Or at least that was the way it was in the "good old days." If we take the logic that women should not act on their intelligence by having careers, have a voice to express opinions and be equal partners, then who are we? Are we living in the lessons of justice, equality and fair play taught by Guru Nanak, or once again adding our own spin?
 

Brother Onam

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Sat Sri Akal,
ਲਖ ਚਉਰਾਸੀਹ ਭ੍ਰਮਤਿਆ ਦੁਲਭ ਜਨਮੁ ਪਾਇਓਇ
ਨਾਨਕ ਨਾਮੁ ਸਮਾਲਿ ਤੂੰ ਸੋ ਦਿਨੁ ਨੇੜਾ ਆਇਓਇ ॥੪॥੨੨॥੯੨॥
It simply blows my mind when I consider, what a matchless attainment this human life is; that someone, given all the wonderful possibilities that accords, would choose to use this life to live as a dog -or really lower than a dog- and show this rapist-dog behaviour as their achievements in this their precious human life.
A mother somewhere, and a father at some point, would have bounced these little boys on their knee, having such high hopes for them, and in return these scoundrels repay these hopes with such disgusting conduct.
 
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kds1980

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This is what happens in a society where everyone even the girls grow up believing they are worth much less than men. Right from birth... even boy babies are celebrated when girls are not. When boys grow up objectifying girls as mere possessions, it's easy for them to rationalize what they are doing in their heads, even when most sane people would know right from wrong. The change has to happen at the society level. If India goes on teaching their daughters that they are merely there to please men, and the boys are taught the same, then when that generation grows up, those same boys become men, will think nothing of objectifying women as playthings for their amusement. It also partly stems from the sexual repression of Indian society in general. The frustration just builds and builds in some men until they do something they never thought they would do.

Not quite Muslim society, but a quote someone used about Islamic society applies here:

...We live in a society where girls are taught that they must do everything to avoid being raped, instead of teaching the boys not to rape in the first place.

In October / Nov when I am in India I am not going alone anywhere... and if its just me and my friend (who is male) we still aren't going anywhere alone where he could be beaten and I could still be raped. Daylight and crowds only....

Majority of boys don't rape It is 0.001 % that end up being rapists. More people commit murders that rapes so society don't teaches particularly boys not to kill

If I take argument little further then we can say white people society don't teach people not to do racists attacks.

The fact is criminal element is always their in population so criminal will always be around in a society

And BTW India is not such a horrible place ,it is just you people read bad news and and got afraid. My brother is planning immigration to Australia or canada and my aunt was saying that both are horrible places. deletion
 
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findingmyway

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Majority of boys don't rape It is 0.001 % that end up being rapists. More people commit murders that rapes so society don't teaches particularly boys not to kill

I remember killing being wrong as one of the earliest lessons I was taught in both school and Gurdwara classes.

If I take argument little further then we can say white people society don't teach people not to do racists attacks.

Not true. We had both religious education and ethics classes in the school I went to in the UK

The fact is criminal element is always their in population so criminal will always be around in a society

The point spnadmin ji is making, is that more people will be encouraged to partake in this behaviour if its not actively discouraged and if the victims are blamed. It is very traumatic and so that kind of attitude is adding salt to the wound. It's equivalent to saying that you shouldn't buy nice things otherwise you deserve to be burgled.


And BTW India is not such a horrible place ,it is just you people read bad news and and got afraid. My brother is planning immigration to Australia or canada and my aunt was saying that both are horrible places. deletion

No-one is saying that these things only happen in India. However, chauvinistic attitudes in India make it more likely than the UK for example and also make it harder to get justice. These attitudes need to be tackled both in India and other places. I personally think education and discussion is the key to changing attitudes.
 

kds1980

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I remember killing being wrong as one of the earliest lessons I was taught in both school and Gurdwara classes.

Yet in UK murders are committed



Not true. We had both religious education and ethics classes in the school I went to in the UK

and yet we see racist attacks



The point spnadmin ji is making, is that more people will be encouraged to partake in this behaviour if its not actively discouraged and if the victims are blamed. It is very traumatic and so that kind of attitude is adding salt to the wound. It's equivalent to saying that you shouldn't buy nice things otherwise you deserve to be burgled.

The point I am making is that how much you teach boys not to rape there are always few who always will , so saying that society don't teach boys not to rape is wrong

Of course victim blaming is wrong but people need to be careful about their own security , no need to be too much theoritical.

And BTW people in India are blamed if they are living in not so safe colony and buy luxury things




No-one is saying that these things only happen in India. However, chauvinistic attitudes in India make it more likely than the UK for example and also make it harder to get justice. These attitudes need to be tackled both in India and other places. I personally think education and discussion is the key to changing attitudes.

Justice in India is harder for everyone not only for women
 

spnadmin

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I think I agree in part with kds ji that rape is hard-wired into a percentage of members of the mammalian order. Dolphins and some of the lower primates have been observed to rape.

Where I personally think the focus should lie is on the problem of blaming the victim. A rape victim is NOT TO BLAME. This idea takes too long to sink into the consciousness of the public. If it would sink in, then the justice system (police, judges, social workers) would move with earnest and swiftly to bring justice to the victim.

What really undermines justice is a public that makes excuses for the rapist and blames the victim, puts the victim on trial. If we could get this part of the problem straightened out then the wink and nod message - It's OK to rape because no one is really serious about it - would be shot down. And rapists would be told in no uncertain terms YOU ARE A CRIMINAL and will have your day in court.

Yes we are taught that rape is wrong. The message however does not always sink in. To make it sink in public consciousness has to be changed. The public has to be clear that rape is not trivial and rapist must pay.
 

Tejwant Singh

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Akasha ji,

Guru Fateh.

Yes, rape is the worst possible thing that can happen to anyone. It leaves scars for the rest of one’s life on the victims. Having said that, I take issue with you about what you said and the way you put it.

You write:

Akasha;189771]This is what happens in a society where everyone even the girls grow up believing they are worth much less than men. Right from birth... even boy babies are celebrated when girls are not.

That is a bold, blanket,false and unfair statement which shows your lack of knowledge and disdain towards the Indian society which is a shame.

I have 6 sisters. None of them were treated the way you claim. My parents had celebration for all of them. All are happily married. My mum took girls from the villages, trained them and married them off. When my daughter Jaskeerat was born, and we had no idea whether it was going to be a boy or a girl. We celebrated in the same way, so did my mum in India. So, I take offence in your claims which are not based on facts.

When boys grow up objectifying girls as mere possessions, it's easy for them to rationalize what they are doing in their heads, even when most sane people would know right from wrong.

Which story book did you get that from? This may be true in some parts of the society but it would be a very minute part and the same is true in some parts of Canada and the US as well. Check the Mormons, The JW's Christians about this among other sects

The change has to happen at the society level.
I agree, the change has to happen in all societies, including Canada which is 23th in rapes and India is 100th in the world. France is 1st in rapes, so does that mean the French society is worse than the Indian one? The same question should be asked about Canada as compared to India. The facts are here for you to check. You mean Canada being 23rd in rapes is due to the south Asian macho population that lives there and represses women? http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_rap-crime-rapes

These kinds of blanket statements without the facts demean the very gender you want to protect. We shall talk about the sexual assaults in the armed forces in the US, UK and Canada in a bit.

If India goes on teaching their daughters that they are merely there to please men, and the boys are taught the same, then when that generation grows up, those same boys become men, will think nothing of objectifying women as playthings for their amusement.

What do you mean when you say so gallantly, “If India goes on teaching their daughters that they are merely there to please men”? Which India are you talking about? You are talking about my parents who raised their kids very well. Once again, this is a false statement not based on any facts and very offensive, I must add.

It also partly stems from the sexual repression of Indian society in general. The frustration just builds and builds in some men until they do something they never thought they would do.

Again, you are low on facts and they are upside down. It is not about the sexual repression anymore but the sexual liberation. It all started in the 90’s with the call centres and the rise in IT industry which gave girls the opportunity to leave their homes and be independent. Boys and girls have started living together without getting married.

There are more graduate kids in India than in The US, UK, Canada combined. The kids who do not get selected to the IIT(Indian Institute of Technology) are taken by the Ivy league colleges with full scholarships.

Of course there are bad apples and many of them in the growing population of 1.3 billion. The news travels fast which is good because then one can find remedies which is not the case of rapes daily happening in Canada and the US. I will lay down the facts about them. The good thing is rapes are being highlighted which will force the changes in law. When a tourist is raped in India, the things get magnified and everyone who has no inkling about India start criticizing it while ignoring the same in their own countries where the problem is much worse.

Not quite Muslim society, but a quote someone used about Islamic society applies here:
...We live in a society where girls are taught that they must do everything to avoid being raped, instead of teaching the boys not to rape in the first place.

The same can be said of the so called civilized society. The sexual assaults in the armed forces of the US and Canada are well known. You are part of the armed forces. Why no hue and cry from you for that?

Here are the facts. Below is just the snippet of the whole article:

{“What happened is this: One instructor has been convicted of rape and multiple cases of aggravated sexual assault of female trainees, and 16 other trainers have been charged or are under investigations for crimes ranging from aggravated sexual assault to improper sexual relationships with 42 female trainees.

That places Lackland atop an infamous list of military sexual-abuse scandals, including the Navy’s Tailhook convention in Las Vegas in 1991 (83 female and seven male victims of sexual assault by more than 100 Navy and Marine Corps aviation officers); the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1996 (12 Army officers charged with sexually assaulting female trainees); the Air Force Academy in 2003 (12 percent of female graduates reported having been victims of rape or attempted rape, and 70 percent said they had been sexually harassed); and the Marine Barracks in Washington in recent years, where the documentary The Invisible War interviewed five female Marines who reported having been raped (the Corps investigated and disciplined four of the women after they reported the rapes but punished none of the accused officers).} http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-military-s-rape-problem-20120913

Here is some more for you to know:

“According to a 2012 anonymous survey released last month by the U.S. Department of National Defense, an estimated 6.1 per cent of active duty women and 1.2 per cent of men were victims of unwanted sexual contact. That translates to roughly 12,000 women who were assaulted and 14,000 men _ up from an estimated 19,300 victims in 2010”.

Now let’s talk about the problem in your country:

Phillip Millar, a lawyer representing several women who allege they were sexually assaulted by a now retired Canadian Forces medical technician, says the military’s “macho culture” keeps men quiet.
“It’s hard to even know what’s happening because the culture discourages reporting so much,” he said. http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...s-to-shed-light-on-sexual-assault-harassment/

Is that the Indian culture they are talking about above?

Here are some more facts for you to be aware of:

There is an average of 207,754 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year.1
http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/frequency-of-sexual-assault
REFERENCES
1. U.S. Department of Justice. National Crime Victimization Survey. 2006-2010.

And they are not talking about India above.

In October / Nov when I am in India I am not going alone anywhere... and if its just me and my friend (who is male) we still aren't going anywhere alone where he could be beaten and I could still be raped. Daylight and crowds only.

The truth Akasha ji is that you stand more chances of getting raped in Canada and in your Navy barracks than in India. You are a Sikh, a truth seeker now. Start treading on this path with an open mind and with the facts in your hands.

And stop being offensive. I expected a lot more from you.

Tejwant Singh
 

findingmyway

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and yet we see racist attacks

True but the attacks were more frequent and much worse in the 70's and 80's. They were also more widely accepted by the general population. Due to education, tolerance for others has increased and acceptance of racism as a part of life has decreased. The point here is that it doesn't matter which country you are in, education will decrease crime levels. It will never be eradicated but can be reduced with better support for the victims. This applies to all crime and all countries.
 

Harkiran Kaur

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Tejwant Ji,

I apologize I wrote that after reading the story and another similar to it. You should know I have nothing against Indian society since I plan to live there 50% of the time when I am done in the military.

I know that rapes happen everywhere... it just seems that with all the warnings online about women travelling to India to never be alone etc. It just makes it worse... I had just read a bunch of travel blogs and safety things etc also just before writing that.

So are you saying it should be ok for me to walk around New Delhi etc by myself for shopping, and travel on the train etc by myself then across India? Since women are now fully liberated... I should be ok right? And if I happen to glance at a man they won't take it as a sexual advance etc?

Its just I am getting so many people telling me that when I go on my trip to be very very careful that its dangerous for women to travel alone, and that a woman who is alone is an open invitation for men etc. And many of these people telling me this are Indians who moved here from India!

So which am I supposed to believe? Is it as safe as Canada to walk around by myself then?? Or do I always need to be ultra careful?

As a side note, when I planned this trip I didn't take safety into consideration really at all. I thought it would be just like any other country I visited...

And what I said about women being objectified - I was referring to the post the spnadmin put before where attackers objectify their victims and that's how they rationalize it... (I think it was spnadmin ji) and it was referring to society in general, not just Indian. But the part about Indian women being brought up to be subordinate to men is somewhat true... (not in Sikh families obviously) but I know many in person who were taught that what the husband says goes no questions asked.

Anyway sorry if O iffended you... I didn't mean to... I am just confused now on whether or not I will be safe on my trip if I travel alone... from what you are saying I will be more safe there than walking around here by myself (based on statistics you gave) so I will go with that and not worry about it and just enjoy exploring by myself.
 

spnadmin

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I don't believe I said anything about objectifying women. But if I did, rapists in India would be no different from rapists in the US in that regard. I believe what I said had nothing to do with the safety of India versus any other country. My concerns lie with any justice system and its devil-may-care attitude (including the police) and with sectors of society that make excuses for rapists by blaming the rape victim.

My rule of thumb traveling in most places is to travel with a partner unless I am really familiar with a place and know how to get to safety quickly. Case in point. New York City has been time and again portrayed as a dangerous place. It is and it is not. I travel there alone without any concerns because I can handle myself there. I know the place, where to go and where to duck if things don't look right. The police in New York City take their job very seriously. I would not walk around Dallas, Texas by myself, even at high noon in the blazing sun, because as "born again" as its image is given to be, it is not safe for women because of the very issues I just explained. Women walking about alone or even in pairs are considered fair game, especially if they are members of minorities (black, Hispanic) and are held accountable for the hideous actions of men. Go to San Antonio or to Austin and the picture is completely different.

As long as rape is taken to be "well not quite a crime" and rapists are not quite criminals but victims of cirumstance and the wiles of women, rape the likes of which we read in Mumbai will go on, until the public makes the justice system perform.

BTW, for anyone who is curious. Based on my experience only, the metro areas in the US where women can travel without too much worry - of course you are going to stay out of abandoned areas and commercial piers where they load boats and no one is really there to hear you - Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, San Antonio, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City Kansas, Pittsburgh, most of Manhattan in New York City, Boston, and Sarasota Florida. Proceed with caution in Dallas, New Orleans, Detroit, Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia. Apologies if I left your town out. Places where safety is 'mixed:' Los Angeles, Miami, and the New York City boroughs like Brooklyn or Queens. Public attitudes have much to do with what makes a city safe or dangerous for women and for men.
 

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