Dopo la violenza di gruppo a New
Delhi contro una studentessa 23enne, proteste di massa in tutto il paese, in
una spontanea esplosione di indignazione e di rabbia. Decine di migliaia scesi
in piazza ieri.
Decine di migliaia di persone
hanno manifestato ieri a New Delhi e in altre città indiane, in una spontanea
esplosione di indignazione e di rabbia provocata dall'ennesimo caso di violenza
sessuale. Un episodio particolarmente brutale: la vittima è una giovane donna,
una studentessa 23enne ora ricoverata in ospedale, in pericolo di vita.
Domenica sera era andata al cinema insieme a un amico, poi insieme erano saliti
su un autobus privato per tornare a casa. Il bus si è rivelato una trappola: a
bordo erano sei uomini, incluso l'autista, che hanno pestato il ragazzo con una
sbarra di metallo, poi picchiato selvaggiamente e violentato la giovane, infine
scaricato entrambi al lato di una superstrada.
Una violenza così brutale ha
suscitato grande attenzione pubblica. Ieri centinaia di studentesse e di
studenti hanno manifestato davanti a una delle maggiori università della
capitale. Centinaia di giovani sono andati a protestare davanti alla residenza
della chief minister (capo del governo locale) di New Delhi, la signora Sheila
Dixit - e sono stati dispersi dalla polizia a colpi di idranti, cosa che ha
suscitato aspre critiche dell'opposizione. Gruppi di studentesse hanno bloccato
il traffico per protesta: «Voglio che tutti sentano il disagio che le donne
provano ogni giorno in città», diceva una ragazza. Altri sono andati a
protestare davanti alla questura centrale di polizia, altri ancora davanti al
parlamento. Molti accusano le autorità di ignorare colpevolmente la violenza
subita dalle donne a vari livelli - dalla violenza domestica alle molestie sui
luoghi di lavoro, alle aggressioni e stupri. «Ci sgoliamo da sempre a chiedere
maggiore sicurezza per le donne e le ragazze. Ma il governo, la polizia, i
responsabili della sicurezza pubblica ignorano la violenza quotidiana che si
esercita sulle donne», dice Ranjana Kumari, sociologa e capo del Center for
Social research di New Delhi (al quotidiano britannico The Guardian). Anche
Sonia Gandhi, presidente del Partito del Congresso (al governo), dopo aver
visitato la vittima in ospedale, non ha solo promesso una rapida azione
giudiziaria ma ha anche chiesto che la polizia sia addestrata ad affrontare i
reati contro le donne. «E' una vergogna per tutti noi che questi episodi
ricorrano con tanta regolarità», ha poi scritto alla capo del governo di New
Delhi.
In questo caso per la verità le
autorità hanno prontamente risposto - tale è stata l'ondata di rabbia pubblica.
La polizia ha rintracciato e arrestato quattro degli aggressori, di cui almeno
tre rei confessi, e sta cercando gli altri due. Intanto l'opposizione (di
centrodestra) ha lanciato feroci accuse verso il governo che non sa garantire
la sicurezza dei cittadini: al punto che ieri il ministro dell'interno
federale, Sushil Kumar Shinde, è stato costretto a intervenire per la seconda
volta in due giorni: ha annunciato che saranno rafforzate le pattuglie di
polizia in città di notte, poi che saranno vietati i bus con vetri oscurati,
come quello su cui erano saliti i due ragazzi domenica sera, e tutti i
guidatori di autobus e i loro assistenti saranno controllati - quel il bus era
abusivo, senza licenza, cosa in realtà frequente. L'ennesimo caso di stupro
così a rafforza un allarme criminalità che rasenta la psicosi a New Delhi, e
come spesso accade butta in legge e ordine: deputati dell'opposizione hanno
urlato in parlamento che ci vuole la pena di morte per gli stupratori, mentre
sui giornali si parla di castrazione forzata. New Delhi, 15 milioni di abitanti
(e 572 casi di violenza sessuale denunciati l'anno scorso), è stata descritta
da alcuni come «la capitale dello stupro», anche se i dati smentiscono.
In un amaro editoriale ieri il
quotidiano The Hindu osserva che «l'orribile stupro di gruppo a Delhi è parte
di un continuum di violenza che milioni di indiane affrontano ogni giorno,
dalle molestie sessuali in luoghi pubblici agli abusi fisici nell'intimo delle
nostre case ancor più che nelle strade». Spesso la violenza contro le donne non
viene neppure denunciata, in parte perché lo stigma sociale che circonda la
vittima è fortissimo. Ma anche perché potrebbe succedere come a una giovane
donna che mesi fa subì violenza a Kolkata: la polizia la tempestò di domande
sui dettagli più scabrosi. O a Noida, città satellite di New Delhi: il
commissario di polizia poi commentò che la vittima se l'era cercata. Spesso,
denunciano le organizzazioni di donne, la polizia rifiuta di ricevere denunce
per violenza sessuale, e in particolare violenza domestica. In ogni caso i
procedimenti giudiziari possono richiedere anni, e appena un quarto dei casi si
conclude con una condanna. Del resto, se le aggressioni alle donne sono in
aumento è perché queste sono entrate in massa nello spazio pubblico: ma si
scontrano con una cultura radicata di supremazia maschile. «La violenza contro
le donne ha sempre la tacita approvazione della società», diceva l'attrice e
attivista sociale Shabana Azmi di recente a Mumbai, durante un incontro di
gruppi anti-violenza.
India:la polizia carica le
manifestazioni di protesta
Posted on December 22, 2012 by reed
[In the capital of India, which the government
has claimed is "the world's largest democracy," a brutal rape of a
young woman has brought thousands of outraged protestors into the streets. Rape is a common terror that women face in
Delhi and throughout India. What brought
these massive protests to the streets, this time? As the following articles point out,
"Police figures show that, in Delhi, a rape is reported on average every
18 hours and some form of sexual attack every 14 hours....Indian novelist Arundhati
Roy said rape is seen as a 'matter of feudal entitlement' in many parts of the
country, and the reason this case had come to light is because the woman victim
belongs to the affluent middle class".....She said attitudes towards women
need to change in India, because a change in the law only will protect middle
class women, but 'the violence against other women who are not entitled will
continue'." -- Frontlines ed.]
[Tear gas and water cannon were used against
protesters marching on the presidential palace]
Indian police have used tear gas and water
cannons to keep back thousands of protesters marching in Delhi over the gang
rape of a young woman.
Violence broke out as the protesters, mainly
college students, tried to break through police barricades to march on the
presidential palace.
There has been outrage in India over the attack
on a bus last Sunday that has left the 23-year-old woman in a critical
condition in hospital.
Six people have been arrested.
The government has tried to halt the rising anger
over the attack by announcing a series of measures intended to make Delhi safer
for women.
They include more police night patrols, checks
on bus drivers and their assistants and the banning of buses with tinted
windows or curtains.
But the protesters say the government’s pledge
to seek life sentences for the attackers is not enough – many are calling for
the death penalty.
Some carried placards reading “Hang the
Rapists” and “Save women. Save India” as they marched on Saturday.
Junior home minister RPN Singh appealed for
calm after the clashes broke out. “This is not a way to protest,” he told
India’s CNN-IBN television. “Trying to storm buildings and breaking barricades
is not a way to start a dialogue.”
The woman and her friend had been to watch a
film when they boarded the bus in the Munirka area intending to travel to
Dwarka in south-west Delhi.
Police said she was raped for nearly an hour,
both she and her companion were beaten with iron rods and thrown out of the
moving bus into a Delhi street.
Doctors said on Saturday that the woman
remained in a critical but stable condition, but had been removed from a
ventilator.
“She is doing much better than yesterday,” said
BD Athani, superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital.
The attack has prompted a week of candle-lit
vigils and demonstrations amid some soul-searching about the safety of women in
Delhi and other parts of the country.
Police figures show that, in Delhi, a rape is
reported on average every 18 hours and some form of sexual attack every 14
hours.
Indian novelist Arundhati Roy said rape is seen
as a “matter of feudal entitlement” in many parts of the country, and the
reason this case had come to light is because the woman victim belongs to the
affluent middle class.
She said attitudes towards women need to change
in India, because a change in the law only will protect middle class women, but
“the violence against other women who are not entitled will continue”.
————————————————————
By Harmeet Shah Singh, Mallika Kapur and Laura
Smith-Spark, CNN
Saturday. December 22, 2012
Students chant anti-police slogans during a
protest against the Indian government’s reaction to recent rape incidents in
India, on Saturday, December 22,
in New Delhi, India. The demonstration was prompted by
wide public outrage over what police said was the gang-rape and beating of a
23-year-old woman on a moving bus in the capital last Sunday.
New Delhi (CNN) — Police in India blasted
protesters with water cannon and tear gas Saturday as clashes broke out at a
rally in New Delhi against rape, leaving scores of people drenched and angry.
The demonstration was prompted by wide public
outrage over what police said was the gang-rape and beating of a 23-year-old
woman on a moving bus in the capital last Sunday.
Her injuries were so severe she spent days in
intensive care in a city hospital, battling for her life. Police said Saturday
that she had recovered enough to give a statement to a magistrate from her
hospital bed the previous evening.
Dozens of police, some equipped with bamboo
canes, flanked the water cannon as it blasted out on to the thousands of
protesters assembled by New Delhi’s historic India Gate.
Demonstrators react from tear gas fired by
police during a protest calling for better safety for women. New Delhi alone
reported 572 rapes last year and more than 600 in 2012.
Some demonstrators attempted to break through
the security barriers blocking access to the country’s government district,
parliament building and presidential palace.
Others chanted, punched the air in defiance and
waved banners as the police sought to disperse them from Raisina Hill, the seat
of Indian power.
“Hang them till death,” read the placard of one
protester seeking capital punishment for rape suspects.
“Stop this shame,” read another. A third said,
“Give them the same physical torture.”
Shouts of “We want justice” also rose above the
large and diverse crowd, symbolizing a widely felt anger over attacks against
women. Banners proclaiming the same message were marked with a hangman’s noose.
One young woman protester, who said her leg was
injured by a blow from a police baton, lamented what she called a failure of
democracy in the country.
“Today, I have seen democracy dying,” she said.
New Delhi’s police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said
up to 35 protesters and nearly 40 police personnel were injured.
Thirty barricades were damaged in the course of
the protest, he said, and police fired 125 tear gas shells. A number of
vehicles were also damaged, he said.
Saturday’s furious protest was just the latest
held across the country in the past week, where official data show that rape
cases have jumped almost 875% over the past 40 years — from 2,487 in 1971 to 24,206 in 2011.
New Delhi alone reported 572 rapes last year
and more than 600 in
2012.
Bhavyaa Sharma, a 19-year-old student at a
leading women’s college in the capital, told CNN how she fears for her safety
when she leaves the campus. Sexual assaults on women in the city have horrified
her and her female friends.
“I feel vulnerable here,” said Sharma,
accompanied by her classmates. “I am very sure about it. Delhi is not safe for
women.”
Six suspects, including the bus driver and a
minor, have now been arrested in connection with Sunday’s rape.
As fury about the assault gathered pace, some
Indian lawmakers even called for treating rape as a capital crime.
“We’ll work collectively to see we make a law
which is deterrent and preventive,” said New Delhi’s chief minister, Sheila
Dikshit.
India’s Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told
reporters Saturday that the government would work toward increasing punishment
in “rarest of the rare” rape cases.
But pressed on whether the administration would
agree to demands for death by hanging in such instances, he said: “We’ll have
to see in what way it (the rape sentencing) can be enhanced.”
Shinde said the government was pushing for a
speedy trial for the attack.
Authorities are also taking a number of steps
to improve security for women in New Delhi, particularly on public transport,
he said.
“(The) government shares the widespread concern
and support that has been expressed throughout society for the girl who has so
suffered. Government also respects the right of legitimate protest,” he said.
“At the same time, there is need to exercise
calm at this juncture and for everyone to work together to improve the safety
and security environment.”
In the meantime, the victim has been promised
the best possible medical care, Shinde said.
A physician described the woman’s condition
Saturday as better than a day earlier, but said there was still a risk of
infection. She is receiving psychological as well as medical care, he said.
Police spray water and fire tear gas towards
demonstrators.
Following the brutal assault, the country’s
human rights body shot off notices to city police and federal authorities,
demanding an explanation.
“The incident has raised the issue of declining
public confidence in the law and order machinery in the city, especially in its
capacity to ensure safety of women, as a number of such incidents have been
reported in the national capital in the recent past,” the National Human Rights
Commission said in a statement Tuesday.
Home Secretary R. K. Singh announced the
suspension of five police officers in the wake of Sunday’s rape.
Meantime, some observers say anti-women acts in
India stem from the country’s largely patriarchal social setup.
Indians’ preference for sons over daughters,
for example, has manifested itself in a worrisome population imbalance. The
2011 census of the world’s second-most populous nation recorded an alarming
drop in the percentage of girls among country’s preschoolers.
For every 1,000 boys up to 6 years old, the
census counted 914 girls, a drop from 927 a decade ago. It’s illegal in India
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