When will India stop shaming women?

Another case of horrific rape shocks the country. Another woman brutalised and left for dead. Another murky case of allegations and counter allegations comes to light. Is this what the country that I call home has come to? 

A week after the media flurry over the Salman Khan rape analogy dies down, I wonder what is more alarming for me. The fact that incidents of rape are ever increasing, or that the incidents themselves are turning more inhumane and brutal, or, and even more shockingly, that the attitude people have towards these incidents and the victims getting more blasé than ever. 

According to a report, published by the Indian Express, the average number of rapes each day in this country is as high as 6 for the year of 2015.

This, three year after the Nirbhaya gang rape case, is baffling, to say the least. However, the fact of the matter remains that rape is a reality that this nation refuses to address head on.

I live as a single girl in the capital of the country, and each day my mother worries if I have reached home safe or not. Parents of a colleague don't allow her to drive her car post 8pm. This is not because of their lack of trust in her, but more a lack of trust in the city itself.

I myself have faced harassment several times and often felt it was easier to let it go than fight the issue head on.  I know many will raise an eyebrow at my questioning the overall inaction with regards to this social challenge, but many will also agree that for a woman, it is better to let certain things go when travelling alone at 11pm in the NCR than try and challenge it all.

This remains a huge cause of concern. I, as a tax paying citizen of the country, feel unsafe to fight for my basic rights because I am a woman.

I believe that the main reason behind our failure to fight against rape is the collective attitude that we maintain. Salman Khan's off-the-cuff remark is nothing compared to what some of the statements that have been made in the past.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2014 commented during a rally: "Rape accused should not be hanged. Men make mistakes."

Another MLA, Vinay Bihari, said that chicken and fish and other non-vegetarian food were the "reason why men liked to rape".

Khap panchayats have blamed mobile phones and jeans as the main reason behind rape. When a girl is raped she has to justify what she was wearing, why she was at the location, and even prove that she has indeed been raped.

Even in the Mothihari rape case, in which the victim complained that the rapists allegedly tried inserting a pistol and other things in her private parts, she has been subjected to a two-finger test.

Also read: Why rape victims are killed

In the wake of such atrocities, the ridiculous excuses and comments that many tend to make are not only enraging but also demeaning for a woman.

In a country where a woman is held responsible for rape, what is truly frightening is that not only are the incidents increasing in number, but the extent of brutality and horror that is going up.

From just the physical act of sexual violation, it has now become an act where a rape victim is made to suffer extreme and horrific bodily violence and mutilation. Who can forget the macabre rape of Jisha in Kerala where her guts were pulled out after she was raped?

The incidents today seem like a war against the female kind where she is degraded and rendered almost inhuman. At a time when strong action is urgently needed from those who lead and represent us, central and state governments are woefully silent.

The Nirbhaya fund, which was set up by the UPA-II government at Rs 1,000 crore and later raised to Rs 2,000 crore, remains unutilised. The fund had been set up by the central government at a time where the national outrage over Nirbhaya's death was at its peak, but since then has been gathering dust in the government's coffers.

Also read: Why we cannot separate Jisha's rape from her Dalit identity

Even the Supreme Court has pulled up the central government over its lack of action, observing that the Nirbhaya fund was nothing more than "just a lip service" and asking it to  formulate a national policy for providing adequate compensation.  This is a dark hour indeed. That too in a country where the woman is worshipped as a symbol of power and hope, where icons such as Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi and Rani Laxmi Bai have redefined femininity.

Enough of being dragged into the shadows. Time we demand concrete action and accountability for India's rape epidemic.