Editorial: Build Pressure to Make Delhi Safer for Women

A recent sting operation by Tehelka exposed what can only be called the misogyny that manifests in Khakhi in Delhi-National Capital Region. In a two-week long investigation, Abhishek Bhalla and G Vishnu of Tehelka spoke to more than 30 senior cops in the Delhi-NCR region. As the magazine itself flagged, “More than half had shockingly ugly views on rape victims. This is the face of law exposed. How can the system effect justice through men like these?” While prejudice, nepotism [most of the perpetrators of rape are well-heeled and well connected] and rank apathy among the police in Delhi does not come as a surprise, what is shocking is that the attitude proliferates through the ranks and no attempts appear to be in the offing to ensure more effective sensitisation. It did not require a sting operation and hidden cams to expose how the police thinks in Delhi when it comes to rapes; the men in Khakhi have been ugly enough on national TV and at press conferences already, as was proven at a press briefing some months back about the gang rape of a minor. The media briefing by an SP not only released all details of the victim, but even cast aspersions on her “character”. She was a minor, remember. What the hidden cam fleshed out was the ugliness of mindsets which are expected to investigate rape cases. Speaking on the incidents of rape, apart from their offensively narrow-minded comments on non-local [to Delhi] victims, senior Delhi cops were caught on tape saying things like, “She asked for it; It’s all about money; They have made it a business; It is consensual most of the time”...
Inexcusable as such comments are, they are dangerous for more than the small-mindedness they expose. Such attitudes are dangerous because they also infect the investigation. When officials investigating a rape are themselves convinced that the violation was somehow “invited” by the victim herself, it will lead to a shoddy charge-sheet, ineffectual investigation, influenced compromises... all of which will collaborate to secure an acquittal for the accused. When more than 65% of the rape accused walk away free, it emboldens more to target women with sexual violence. The latest data for Delhi reveals that conviction rates for rape cases is a dismal 34.6%. What this means is for every 35 men convicted for rape, 65 accused escape punishment, almost always due to procedural lapses by the cops. It is worrying that the procedural lapses are not just because Delhi cops, like those in the rest of the country, are poorly trained, but more so because they approach rape investigations with a warped belief that the victim is working an entrapment. The victims obviously know this, which is why against the 414 rape cases reported in Delhi NCR in 2010, there must actually have been 20,700 incidents of rape in the national capital, a staggering 20,286 victims preferring not to even report their rape! Studies by women’s groups have revealed that for every reported case of rape, 50 go unreported. For a long time, people have been fed the myth that social stigma holds victims back; it is obvious that it is lack of faith in the keepers of law that convinces women not to become victims all over again. As aspect left unaddressed in the Tehelka sting is the possible reason why cops in Delhi can afford to be so inconsiderate. Apart from the fact that they are expressing prejudices common on the streets, what cannot be ignored is that the victims are almost either not originally from Delhi or utterly underprivileged while the perpetrators are ‘local’ and, as mentioned earlier, ‘connected’.
Given this situation, Delhi NCR cannot be expected to undertake any effective course corrections, which is why State Governments and lay people from other states need to exert pressure on Delhi to mend its ways. The North East support centre with a helpline and website was a welcome development, but what is required is for political and social pressure from the region to be stepped-up in Delhi to build an aggressive lobby that demands, in a stronger voice, more diligent and effective persecution of rape accused. They will find allies in groups working on human and women’s rights issues, and with such a collaboration they can invade TV news studios more often to shame the Delhi Government and its police more publicly and by doing so, build enough pressure on them to facilitate the delivery of justice more effectively. If that is achieved, the higher conviction rate of perpetrators of rape will work as an effective deterrent to keep more women safe in Delhi. Given the number of daughters and sisters from these parts, as also other parts of the country, who go to Delhi to work and study, ensuring this safety becomes a collective responsibility of all.