Outrage after girl, seven, gang-raped by 2 boys, aged seven & eight who lured her away in latest attack to rock India

BY Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter

The world's largest democracy is plagued by sexual violence - especially against women - and rape is the fourth most common crime that is reported in India.

According to official statistics, more than 30,000 cases were registered in the country in 2021 - an average of 80 cases in a single day.

And this is when most of the rape incidents go unreported because the victims fear retaliation and humiliation, something seen very commonly in India.

Various human rights groups and NGOs say that women who belong to the lowest level of India's centuries-old caste hierarchy system are most vulnerable to rape and other forms of physical and sexual violence.

They believe men from the dominant caste groups often attack these women to re-establish repressive gender rules.

However, India's struggle with rape also stems from the country's extremely patriarchal society which often gives more importance to men.

The gender issues caused by this are believed to be one of the major reasons behind such atrocious acts against women.

While this is absolutely true in most of the rural areas in India - sadly - it is also the case in urban cities and developed areas in the country.

The biggest example of this would be the 2012 Delhi Gang rape and murder - commonly known as the Nirbahaya Case - where a 22-year-old woman travelling in a bus with her partner was beaten, gang-raped and tortured by six men, including the bus driver.

While she was rushed to one of the biggest hospitals in India - and was later airlifted to Singapore - the woman later died of the severe injuries that were inflicted by the attackers.

The main attacker among the six - who inflicted the fatal wound to the girl - boldly confessed he does not regret doing what he did.

This was the case that shook the nation - so much so that millions of people took to the public streets in New Delhi to protest against the weak rape laws.

Fourteen years since the incident, not much has changed in the country that still reports an overwhelming number of rape cases every single day.