A week ago a young Delhi-based television journalist driving home from a late shift at 3am was shot dead - apparently while she was still at the wheel. In a country as big as India people get killed all of the time and while the murder of 25-year-old Soumya Vishwanathan was mysterious - even now the police appear to have little clue what happened or who may have carried out the crime - the cynic in me suspects that had she not had lots of friends who were also journalists then the story would by now have faded from the headlines. Instead, her colleagues have kept pressure on the police and demanded justice for the young woman.
One thing Soumya's death has undoubtedly also done is to have raised the debate about just how safe it is for women in Delhi and elsewhere in India. This debate was partly triggered by seemingly ludicrous comments made in the aftermath of Soumya's death by Delhi's Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, who appeared to critise Souyma for driving home alone at 3am. "I mean one should not be adventurous," claimed the minister who has the privilege of being driven everywhere she goes with a police escort.
The reaction from women's groups has understandably been furious. A little surprisingly, several people I spoke to seemed to suggest that maybe Ms Dikshit had a point and that it should have been the responsibility of Soumya's employer for organising her a ride home.
My take on it is this: had Souyma been walking rather than driving home alone at 3am then I think one might have questioned her judgement (while of course not blaming her for what happened). In an ideal world every street in every city in every country in the world would be safe for everyone to walk on alone, but in the real world we know it's not like that. Soumya's emloyers could, I suppose, have arranged her a taxi but would that have been any safer?
The point surely is that India is famous as the call centre capital of the world and hundreds of thousands of people, including young women, work night shifts, servicing clients on the other side of the planet. Is Delhi so dangerous that a woman cannot drive her self home safely after work? If so, than Ms Dikshit should feel ashamed - not simply for her preposterous comments, but also for failing as the city Chief Minister to make it safer.
Andrew
Well said!!!
Posted by: Rohit | Tuesday, 07 October 2008 at 07:52 PM
I enjoyed 3 years in Delhi, and during that time, entertained friends (female) from Singapore and China in the city. I regret to say that I would not recommend that foreign ladies visit the city alone. When visiting the various markets my friends were touched on their breasts and buttocks, and subject to verbal insults. When travelling in a taxi, one of my friends was subject to an attempted rape, which was only brought to a halt by a strategically placed kick, and when travelling in a tri-shaw, another was assaulted by a passing motor cyclist with such force that her chest was bruised for weeks.
Many male inhabitants of the city seem to have a problem with foreign women, who are perceived as hookers, or worse.
I am afraid that the generally hospitable nature of the inhabitants does not extend to young foreign ladies.
Posted by: Deena Bennett | Wednesday, 08 October 2008 at 02:10 AM
India is a country battling with serious problems of sexual crimes and many other crimes, that is being ignored, denied or blamed on the victim - like in the case of Souyma and the utterly stupid comment made by the Chief Minister. Unfortunately, the ministers' response echoes a common attitude in India. You cannot really trust Indian statistics because so few cases are really reported in the country.
Indians in general are in deep denial of the severity of sexual misconduct in the nation, and media even refuse to publish any criticism on the topic. In a private effort to combat incest, for example, a volunteer organization (Shakti Productions) did their own survey in Delhi and found to their shock that an enormous 63% of all girl children surveyed, admitted having been sexually abused. An astonishing 76% of grown women surveyed admitted being sexually abused as children. From the various surveys done it is clear that at least half of India's women are subject to sexual abuse, rape and repeated sexual violation against their will in India. And these are staggering numbers for any nation to have and demonstrates that Indian society suffers from sexual problems. Let us not also forget that an estimated 80 million girl babies have disappeared in Indian birth records since independence, killed for no other reason than being female. The discrimination against women start from childhood, where the son does not need to work while the girl is practically a servant from the moment she can walk. In middle class families newly cooked food is often brought to boys for lunch in school by their mothers, while girls are given cold leftovers to bring in the morning. Indian society is filled with extreme discrimination against women on all levels.
So is India safe for women? No, its absolutely not!
http://www.shaktiproductions.net/isa_stats.html
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2007/04/the_missing_gir.html
Posted by: Daniel | Wednesday, 08 October 2008 at 03:54 AM
I would not be surprised if Indians in the UK reading about this, will complain and try to get the website to remove any comments added. They have done it before when a similar topic was posted. Its important that the independent allows the comments and input to remain on the board, if Indians begin to complain. These issues have to be publisized and not burried where no recourse is ever achieved, when a population denies any problems even exist!
Posted by: Daniel | Wednesday, 08 October 2008 at 03:58 AM
Language is often an interesting indicator of attitudes. The fact that sexual harassment is called 'eve teasing' and that lewd comments and behavior from men is attributed to the seemingly natural euphemistic 'roadside Romeo' effect is an indication of downplaying a very serious issue.
Posted by: MM | Wednesday, 08 October 2008 at 04:21 AM
I am an Indian.I have lived nearly 3 yrs (not continuous)in Delhi between 1986 and 1995. It's an amazing place. The north Indians particularly the punjabis and jats are sex maniacs. They look at women as sex objects and if they see a woman from the north east part of India they think she is a hooker. Same for foreign women. They get cheap thrills in touching women bottom, breast and nudging.
The people in Mumbai are different: highly civilised people with great respect to women. The shiv senas are morale police and can sometimes create havoc to people's lives with their ideologies but in general women are well respected. Generally India is a wonderful place to live and travel. Kolkata, madras, bangalore are very safe. If you go to Delhi, punjab and agra, just keep a low profile and cover yourself as much as you can.
The economic boom does have an affect on these issues as well to the growing young population.
Posted by: Minu | Wednesday, 08 October 2008 at 07:32 AM
well we have to get to the root of this and ask why have indian men got such a terrible attitude towards women, why they are so vain and can be cruel and why they are obssessed with sex? Having read the above posts and realised that nothing has changed in India for women as I was constantly harrassed when travelling in India in the 80's. Pakistan was worse but India bad. Going to China in the 90's was a revelation - there is no harrassment at all! so what is it with Indian men - is it how they are mothered?
Posted by: dana | Wednesday, 08 October 2008 at 08:07 AM
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Posted by: Jyotsna | Wednesday, 08 October 2008 at 08:49 AM
In Pakistan, I found that society is incredibly sexually repressed. The only outlets for any kinds of discussion of sexual topics are internet cafes where most computers are stuffed full with links to porn sites.
No matter how much women cover thmseles, they are subject to all manner of harrassment.
I wonder if that repression (as well as a hatred for women) is part of the problem in India as well as Pakistan.
Posted by: Stephen | Wednesday, 08 October 2008 at 01:14 PM
It's a Pakistan-India problem and there absolutely MUST be a joint discussion on how to tackle it. It's amazing that the two countries are willing to produce joint films but not participate in a discussion on how to eradicate this evil from society.
Posted by: Hirah | Wednesday, 08 October 2008 at 01:53 PM
Brenda, thanks for your demented viewes and fossilised thinking. You were not replaced by a call centre worker in India were you??
In the same tone, there are thousands of European mean who visit Asian countires to seek disgucting pleasure with children. I have witnessed British tourish in Thailand and know what they get up to and their so called repsect for women... So on the same lines, we should ban all European tourists from visiting Asian countries...
Posted by: Sid | Friday, 10 October 2008 at 01:26 AM
Ultimately, in no way is India safe for women.
Yes, India on the whole has made some great strides towards female literacy and the choice issue that still plagues the west and it's misplaced christian ideologies does not really exist...well it's more forced abortions of female foetuses...but that is a whole other subject.
Sexual harrassment on the street is commonplace, being stared at as if you are some sort of zoo creature is the norm and going out without a male escort after dark to a disc or club is just not done (that is if the chief ministers decide they wish to keep them open...)
India hides it's inherent misogyny under the blanket of "culture" and "modesty" but it's a load of crap. Women have certain opportunities in some cities, but god help you if you want to actually compete in a man's world and chase a deadline at 3am. What happend to Soumya is shocking and sad, but what is worse is the victim blaming in all this...the throwaway comment that "she should know better" are being echoed in every household in India to scare young women into not stepping out of line.
Patriarchy at it's finest.
Posted by: Pat | Friday, 17 October 2008 at 01:52 AM
Indian men are mostly sex-starved because of a repressive culture which chastises you for remotely talking about sex. The hushed tones and subtle hand gestures in college campuses have generated an unhealthy obsession about sexual matters which when multiplied in figures of hundreds of millions of adult males will only lead to crimes against women. India needs to re-discover its glorious past before Muslim invasions when sex wasn't vilified like it is today.
Posted by: Rahul | Friday, 17 October 2008 at 08:26 PM
To say the whole of India is not safe for women is a generalisation that is not true.
I am female living and working in a regional role in APAC. This sees me visit India every 4 -6 weeks for anywhere between 2 - 4 weeks at a time.
I have traveled around India and definitely have found, as have many of my Indian colleagues, that certain parts of North India difficult for woman, both Indian and non-India, to be alone. Of nthe orthern cities Dehli is by far the worst, however, I have also spent lots of time in South India and on the contrary I have found it very safe to be in places such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad as a woman.
Ask Indian woman in places such as Mumbai (Bombay), who will tell you how safe they feel and young woman saying they can go out and come back late on their own without a problem.
Don't get me wrong, there are still crimes against woman, but it is about being as vigilant as one would be as a women in any major city.
The situation does need to be addressed, however, a blanket comment that this issue effects the whole of India is incorrect.
Posted by: PeaceAsia | Saturday, 25 October 2008 at 03:13 PM
Language is often an interesting indicator of attitudes. The fact that sexual harassment is called 'eve teasing' and that lewd comments and behavior from men is attributed to the seemingly natural euphemistic 'roadside Romeo' effect is an indication of downplaying a very serious issue....
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