• Burmese
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
34 °c
Ashburn
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Asia

Outrage Grows in India over Gang-rape on Bus

Nirmala George by Nirmala George
December 20, 2012
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0 0
A A
Outrage Grows in India over Gang-rape on Bus

A protester holds a placard during a rally outside the residence of Delhi's Chief Minister Sheila Dixit in New Delhi. (Photo: Reuters)

3.8k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

NEW DELHI—The hours-long gang-rape and near-fatal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi triggered outrage and anger across the country on Wednesday as Indians demanded action from authorities who have long ignored persistent violence and harassment against women.

In the streets and in Parliament, calls rose for stringent and swift punishment against those attacking women, including a proposal to make rapists eligible for the death penalty. As the calls for action grew louder, two more gang-rapes were reported, including one in which the 10-year-old victim was killed.

“I feel it is sick what is happening across the country. It is totally sick, and it needs to stop,” said Smitha, a 32-year-old protester who goes by only one name.

RelatedPosts

TNLA Fights Off Myanmar Junta Assault

TNLA Fights Off Myanmar Junta Assault

June 24, 2025
346
Shan State Takes Center Stage in Myanmar Junta’s Election Push

Shan State Takes Center Stage in Myanmar Junta’s Election Push

June 24, 2025
178
How Myanmar Military Conscripts Child Soldiers

How Myanmar Military Conscripts Child Soldiers

June 24, 2025
303

Thousands of demonstrators clogged the streets in front of New Delhi’s police headquarters, protested near Parliament and rallied outside a major university. Angry university students set up roadblocks across the city, causing massive traffic jams.

Hundreds rallied outside the home of the city’s top elected official before police dispersed them with water cannons, a move that earned further condemnation from opposition leaders, who accused the government of being insensitive.

“We want to jolt people awake from the cozy comfort of their cars. We want people to feel the pain of what women go through every day,” said Aditi Roy, a Delhi University student.

As protests raged in cities across India, at least two girls were gang-raped, with one of them killed.

Police on Wednesday fished out the body of a 10-year-old girl from a canal in Bihar State’s Saharsa District. Police Superintendent Ajit Kumar Satyarthi said the girl had been gang-raped and killed and her body dumped in the canal. Police were investigating and a breakthrough was expected soon, Satyarthi said.

Elsewhere, a 14-year-old schoolgirl was in critical condition in Banka district of Bihar after she was raped by four men, said Jyoti Kumar, the district education officer.

The men have been identified, but police were yet to make any arrests, Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old victim of the first rape lay in critical condition in the hospital with severe internal injuries, doctors said.

Police said six men raped the woman and savagely beat her and her companion with iron rods on a bus driving around the city—passing through several police checkpoints—before stripping them and dumping them on the side of the road on Sunday night.

Delhi Police chief Neeraj Kumar said four men have been arrested and a search was underway for the other two.

Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress Party, visited the victim, promised swift action against the perpetrators and called for police to be trained to deal with crimes against women.

“It is a matter of shame that these incidents recur with painful regularity and that our daughters, sisters and mothers are unsafe in our capital city,” she wrote in a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

In New Delhi and across India, the outpouring of anger is unusual in a country where attacks against women are rarely prosecuted. The Times of India newspaper dedicated four pages to the rape on Wednesday, demanding an example be made of the rapists, while television stations debated the nation’s treatment of its women.

Opposition lawmakers shouted slogans and protested outside Parliament and called for making rape a capital crime. Cutting across party affiliations, lawmakers demanded the government announce a plan to safeguard women in the city.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told Parliament he had ordered increased police patrols on the streets, especially at night.

Shinde said the government has introduced bills to increase the punishment for rapes and other crimes against women, but they are bogged down in Parliament.

Analysts and protesters said the upsurge of anger was chiefly due to increasing incidents of crime against women and the seeming inability of authorities to protect them.

“We have been screaming ourselves hoarse demanding greater security for women and girls. But the government, the police, and others responsible for public security have ignored the daily violence that women face,” said Sehba Farooqui, a women’s rights activist.

Farooqui said women’s groups were demanding fast-track courts to deal with rape and other crimes against women.

In India’s painfully slow justice system, cases can languish for 10 to 15 years before reaching court.

“We have thousands of rape cases pending in different courts of the country. As a result, there is no fear of law,” says Ranjana Kumari, a sociologist and head of the New Delhi-based Center for Social Research.

“We want this case to be dealt with within 30 days and not the go the usual way when justice is denied to rape victims because of inordinate delays and the rapists go scot-free,” Farooqui said.

Analysts say crimes against women are on the rise as more young women leave their homes to join the work force in India’s booming economy, even as deep-rooted social attitudes that women are inferior remain unchanged. Many families look down on women, viewing the girl child as a burden that forces them to pay a huge dowry to marry her off.

Kumari says a change can come about only when women are seen as equal to men.

Rapes in India remain drastically underreported. In many cases, families do not report rapes due to the stigma that follows the victim and her family. In other instances, families may decide not to report a rape out of frustration with the long delays in court and harassment at the hands of the police.

Police, themselves are reluctant to register cases of rape and domestic violence in order to keep down crime figures or to elicit a bribe from the victim.

In a sign of the protesters’ fury, Khushi Pattanaik, a student, said death was too easy a punishment for the rapists, they should instead be castrated and forced to suffer as their victim did.

“It should be made public so that you see it, you feel it and you also live with it—the kind of shame and guilt,” she said.

Your Thoughts …
Nirmala George

Nirmala George

The Associated Press

Similar Picks:

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang
Burma

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 28, 2023
98.3k

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops are opening roads and pathways through forests for people to flee Kokang’s capital as...

Read moreDetails
Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public
Burma

Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public

by The Irrawaddy
February 7, 2024
89.5k

People’s Defense Force says junta troops told every household in the village to send one member to witness the double...

Read moreDetails
Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State
War Against the Junta

Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State

by The Irrawaddy
November 29, 2023
87k

Brotherhood Alliance member says it now has complete control of Kokang’s northernmost section after the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 125...

Read moreDetails
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks
Burma

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

by The Irrawaddy
December 4, 2023
59k

The junta said deserters would not be punished for minor crimes, highlighting the military’s shortage of troops as resistance offensives...

Read moreDetails
As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue
Burma

As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue

by The Irrawaddy
April 19, 2024
46.9k

The junta’s No. 2 has not been seen in public since April 3, sparking rumors that he was either gravely...

Read moreDetails
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow
Burma

Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow

by The Irrawaddy
February 12, 2024
44.7k

Ethnic armed grouping says it will continue Operation 1027 offensive until goal of ousting the junta is achieved. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Detainees Claim Innocence

Detainees Claim Innocence, Allege Police Torture

Rangoon Experiences Consequences of Reform

Rangoon Experiences Consequences of Reform

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

The Lady Myanmar’s Generals Can’t Defeat

The Lady Myanmar’s Generals Can’t Defeat

5 days ago
859
Karenni Resistance Leaders Vow to Crack Down on Price Gouging as Fuel Crisis Deepens

Karenni Resistance Leaders Vow to Crack Down on Price Gouging as Fuel Crisis Deepens

4 days ago
503

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Scrambles for Chinese Energy Investment as Lights Go Out

    Myanmar Junta Scrambles for Chinese Energy Investment as Lights Go Out

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • New Law on Civil Servants by Myanmar’s Parallel Gov’t Troubles Observers

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • TNLA Fights Off Myanmar Junta Assault

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • How Myanmar Military Conscripts Child Soldiers

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Changes Election Law Ahead of Polls

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.