‘When will this stop?’: India’s women demand freedom and rule of law after another rape and murder

BENGALURU – A Bollywood horror film playing in sold-out cinemas across India is about a demon that hunts and kills “modern women”.

The headless bogeyman, the literal embodiment of patriarchy, targets women who work or study, wear Western clothes or simply use smartphones.

The resounding success of this kitschy film, aptly titled “Stree” (or “Woman”), is due in part to its resonance with Indian women who feel harassed in the workplace and in public.

Its release coincided with a terrible tragedy that made headlines.

On August 9, a 31-year-old doctor-in-training was raped and murdered while resting after a 36-hour shift at a government hospital in Calcutta, eastern India.

The incident sparked nationwide protests, serving as a stark reminder that India has not become much safer for women in the past decade.

And just a few weeks earlier, a 33-year-old nurse in the state of Uttarakhand was raped, robbed and murdered on her way home, allegedly by a worker.

“Why does this keep happening? When will it stop?” a teacher friend wrote to this reporter, expressing the existential question that Indian women are asking themselves today in their living rooms, hospitals, classrooms, offices and WhatsApp groups.

Women in India are constantly on high alert. Obscene comments from strangers on the street, sexual harassment on buses, workplace bullying and domestic violence have taught most women not to expect respect from men, even friends or family members.

The August 9 attack was a painful déjà vu, reminding most Indians of the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a moving bus in Delhi in December 2012.

About two weeks later, she succumbed to her injuries in Singapore, where she was treated in the emergency room.

Twelve years ago, the media was legally prohibited from revealing the victim's name. They called her Nirbhaya, which means “fearless.”

The August incident in Kolkata bears frightening similarities to that in Nirbhaya: another medical practitioner trying to make it in the city, another inhuman crime, another death.

The local media have dubbed her Abhaya, another word for fearless, in reference to her tragic predecessor. It has forced us to reflect on what has changed for women in India in the past 12 years.

Nirbhaya's brutal ordeal sparked nationwide protests and attracted international attention, forcing the Indian government to reform rape laws and introduce harsher punishments.

Recommendations of a judicial committee led to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which increased the punishment for rape from seven to ten years.

If the victim dies as a result of the crime or is younger than 12 years old, the minimum sentence is 20 years in prison, which can be extended to life imprisonment or the death penalty.

In addition, the definition of rape was expanded from penetration with the penis to penetration by other means.