Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the death of the 23-year-old woman who was gang-raped in New Delhi last December — an attack that triggered nationwide protests calling for harsher laws and better safeguards for women.
But one year since the physiotherapy student died from the injuries she sustained after being raped by six men in a moving bus, women’s safety continues to be a top concern of the Indian public.
In New Delhi alone, 1,493 rapes were reported in the 11 months through November, more than double the number in the same period last year. Molestation cases during the period saw a more than four-fold increase. The sharp rise is likely due to the fact that more victims are now coming forward to report such crimes and may not necessarily reflect a worsening security situation, police officials say.
The rape and torture on a Delhi bus of the student by six men and her subsequent death last year sparked riots and led to changes in laws designed to penalise rape and sexual assault. It also highlighted the daily harassment many women face in India, particularly in cities like Delhi.
Dozens of activists and students yesterday held small demonstrations to mark the first anniversary of the woman’s death, with activists in Delhi displaying effigies representing the rapists and wearing placards with details of the incident. Several small vigils were also held across the city yesterday evening.
The victim’s family said they were commemorating the anniversary with a small religious ceremony held at their village in northern Uttar Pradesh, the AFP news agency reported.
While Finance Minister P Chidambaram in February announced a new fund for women’s safety, the government is still undecided on how it plans to invest any of the 10 billion rupees (S$204.9 million).
The Finance Ministry said in a statement that it had received three proposals from different ministries and that it expected more. It said the fund could be expanded later to accommodate any projects.
The Home Ministry and the Department of Information Technology have proposed spending the whole fund on a system to better trace the location of phone calls from people in distress. It would be launched in 157 cities and cost 10 billion rupees.
The Transport Ministry has suggested monitoring public transportation vehicles through global positioning system tracking. The idea of the project — which would cost 17 billion rupees to implement in 32 cities — would be to reduce the time it would take police officers to track down any bus they suspect to be involved in violence against women or other crimes.
A third proposal is from the Railway Ministry, which wants to provide an SOS alert system on trains, which would cost a relatively inexpensive 250 million rupees.
Women’s rights activists said they want to see the money spent wisely and swiftly. “It seems the fund was announced without proper thought on how to utilise it,” said Ms Kalpana Vishwanath, an adviser at non-profit organisation Jagori. “Many good things can be done with this fund and we are hopeful that the government will keep up its commitment.”
