Will a Horrific Bus Gang-Rape in Delhi Finally Change India's Culture of Rape?

[Admiral Yi]

At the very least, some porn.

[DGuller]

There is definitely a lot of pent up demand.

[Grey Fox]

They really need a teenage dating & sex culture.

Sounds like they're ripe for the seduction community, too.

That would help. There's millions of men in India age 25-35 that have never even seen a women naked, let alone had sex. And no chance anymore to find a wife/girlfriend.

Sure, teaching man that women are not objects and actual human beings would be a better solution but that's going to take too much time. They need immediate actions. They need brothels for 16-18 years old boys.

[Monoriu]

I am not sure if there really is no porn or brothels in India. 

[Savonarola]

No world like the third world:

Indian village council orders gang rape of woman as 'punishment'
January 23, 2014 9:15AM ET
Elders objected to her relationship with a man

A 20-year-old woman was hospitalized after allegedly being gang-raped by up to 13 men on the orders of village elders in India's West Bengal state. The elders had objected to the woman's relationship with a man, and her family could not afford to pay a fine upon discovery of the affair, police officials said Thursday.

The woman was hospitalized Thursday in serious condition; some reports listed her in critical condition. Television footage showed the woman, her face covered by scarves, being led into a hospital with an IV tube in her arm.

"The morol (village headman) ordered that I be 'enjoyed' by the men of the village," the New Delhi–based NDTV quoted the woman as saying. "Following his orders, at least 10 to 12 people, including (some) members of a single family, continuously raped me. I lost count of how many times I was raped."

Some local news reports said the elders took issue with the woman's relationship with the man because he was from a different community. Other reports said the village council attacked her because she fell in love with a man from a different religion. Police did not reveal the religions of the couple.

Thirteen men have been arrested in the Monday night attack, police said.

The alleged gang rape occurred earlier this week at Subalpur village in Birbhum district, some 124 miles from Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. The village chief and his associates reportedly asked the couple to pay a fine of 25,000 rupees ($400) each for the alleged indiscretion.

Reports said that the man was able to pay the fine. But when the woman's family said they were too poor to pay, the council ordered the gang rape. Police said the woman's male companion was tied up in the village square while the assault on the woman happened in a mud house, Reuters reported.

'Stringent action' needed

Orders from village councils are not legally binding in India, but they are seen as the will of the local community. The councils decide on social norms in villages, and in some cases they dictate the way women can dress or who they can marry. Those who flout the councils risk being ostracized.

Annie Raja, general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, said that the local councils destroy women's rights.

"They are dead set against giving basic human rights to women," she said. "These are nonconstitutional bodies, and the West Bengal government should take stringent action against them."

Four years ago, a village council in Birbhum district ordered a young woman paraded naked through the village. She was accused of falling in love with a man from a different caste.

In October, a teenager was gang-raped on two consecutive days in a Kolkata suburb. She was later set on fire when she refused to withdraw a police complaint against the men who had raped her. She died in a hospital last month, spurring widespread protests in the city.

Earlier this month, a Danish tourist was gang-raped in New Delhi by a group of men when she stopped to ask them for directions to her hotel.

India's Supreme Court has in the past issued opinions condemning the councils as illegal bodies. Several legal organizations are pushing parliament to pass a comprehensive law that would make edicts by local councils illegal.

Al Jazeera and wire services

[The Brain]

Nuclear solution is best solution.

[Admiral Yi]

What would have happened to the dude if he hadn't been able to pay?

[alfred russel]

What would have happened to the dude if he hadn't been able to pay?

All the men in the village would have given him high fives.

[MadImmortalMan]

We sentence people to prisons where it's pretty much a rape sentence. At least the village elders are more direct about it.

[Liep]

We sentence people to prisons where it's pretty much a rape sentence. At least the village elders are more direct about it.

So is that actually a thing or is it just on tv?

[The Brain]

We sentence people to prisons where it's pretty much a rape sentence. At least the village elders are more direct about it.

So is that actually a thing or is it just on tv?

Many aren't televised.

[Eddie Teach]

We sentence people to prisons where it's pretty much a rape sentence. At least the village elders are more direct about it.

So is that actually a thing or is it just on tv?

I would imagine it's not as much a given IRL as it is on tv. But clearly it does happen.

[Sheilbh]

We sentence people to prisons where it's pretty much a rape sentence. At least the village elders are more direct about it.

So is that actually a thing or is it just on tv?

According to government statistics almost 1 in 10 prisoners report being raped or sexually assaulted. It's even around 3.5% in local jails.

It's a disgrace. But then I think that about more or less everything I've read about the US penal system.

Edit: Incidentally I think based on estimates of prison rape (by the DoJ) this makes the US probably the only country in the world where most victims of rape are men.

[DGuller]

Meh, those prisoners probably dressed provocatively.

[PDH]

It is not rape rape since most of those men cannot conceive - the body won't allow it.