NEW DELHI Source(AP)
India's army
and navy canceled New Year's celebrations on Monday out of respect for a New
Delhi student whose gang-rape and murder has set off an impassioned debate
about what the nation needs to do to prevent such a tragedy from happening
again.
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Indian schoolgirls form 2013 |
Protesters and politicians
have called for tougher rape laws, major police reforms and a transformation in
the way the country treats its women.
"To change a society as
conservative, traditional and patriarchal as ours, we will have a long
haul," said Ranjana Kumari, director of the Center for Social Research.
"It will take some time, but certainly there is a beginning."
The country remained in
mourning Monday, two days after the 23-year-old physiotherapy student died from
her internal wounds in the Singapore hospital where she had been sent for
emergency treatment. Six men have been arrested and charged with murder in the
Dec. 16 attack on a New Delhi bus. They face the death penalty if convicted,
police said.
The army and navy canceled
their New Year's celebrations, as did Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress
party. Hotels and clubs across the capital also said they would forego their
usual parties.
"She has become the
daughter of the entire nation," said Sushma Swaraj, a leader of the
opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
Hundreds of mourners continued
their daily protests near Parliament demanding swift government action.
"So much needs to be done
to end the oppression of women," said Murarinath Kushwaha, a man whose two
friends were on a hunger strike to draw attention to the issue.
Some commentators compared the
rape victim, whose name has not been released by police, to Mohamed Bouazizi,
the Tunisian street vendor whose self-immolation set off the Arab Spring. There
was hope her tragedy could mark a turning point for gender rights in a country
where women often refuse to leave their homes at night out of fear and where
sex-selective abortions and even female infanticide have wildly skewed the
gender ratio.
"It cannot be business as
usual anymore," the Hindustan Times newspaper wrote in an editorial.
Politicians from across the
spectrum called for a special session of Parliament to pass new laws to
increase punishments for rapists - including possible chemical castration - and
to set up fast-track courts to deal with rape cases within 90 days.
The government has proposed
creating a public database of convicted rapists to shame them, and Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh has set up two committees to look into what lapses led
to the rape and to propose changes in the law.
The Delhi government on Monday
inaugurated a new helpline - 181 - for women, though it wasn't working because
of glitches.
Responding to complaints that
police refuse to file cases of abuse or harassment brought by women, the city
force has appointed an officer to meet with women's groups monthly and crack
down on the problem, New Delhi Lt. Gov. Tejendra Khanna said.
"We have mandated that
any time any lady visits a police station with a complaint, it has to be
recorded on the spot," he said.
Kumari said the Delhi police
commissioner sent her a message Monday asking her group to restart police
sensitivity training that it had suspended due to lack of funds.
There have also been proposals
to install a quota to ensure one-third of Delhi's police are women.
There also have been signs of
a change in the public debate about crimes against women.
Other rapes suddenly have
become front-page news in Indian newspapers, and politicians are being heavily
criticized for any remarks considered misogynistic or unsympathetic to women.
A state legislator from
Rajasthan was ridiculed Monday across TV news channels after suggesting that
one way to stop rapes would be to change girls' school uniforms to pants
instead of skirts.
"How can he tell us to
change our clothes?" said Gureet Kaur, a student protester in the
Rajasthani town of Alwar. "Why can't girls live freely?"
Some activists have accused
politicians of being so cossetted in their security bubbles that they have no
idea of the daily travails people are suffering.
Kumari said the country was
failing in its basic responsibility to protect its citizens. But she was
heartened to see so many young men at the protests along with women.
"I have never heard so
many people who felt so deep down hurt," she said. "It will
definitely have some impact."
In Geneva, the U.N. human
rights chief called Monday for fundamental change in India.
"Let us hope that 2013
will be the year the tide is turned on violence against women in India and all
women can walk free without fear," said Navi Pillay, the U.N. high
commissioner for human rights. "The public is demanding a transformation
in systems that discriminate against women to a culture that respects the
dignity of women in law and practice," she said in a statement.
Pillay, a South African of
Indian origin, urged Indians not to give in to calls for capital punishment for
rapists. "However terrible the crime, the death penalty is not the
answer," she said.
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