The rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi sparked outrage across India. But does a visit to a neighbourhood central to the story offer any clues as to where the country goes next?

Delhi rape: India looks within itself for answers

A small lemon caught my eye as I reached the front door of the brick hut where the bus driver, one of those accused in this horrific case, lives with his brother.

It was hanging on a wire from the wooden door post – placed there last week, a neighbour said – as a charm to ward off the evil eye.

This tightly-packed south Delhi settlement of single storey dwellings is now under a cloud of shame – because four of the six arrested for the savage rape and killing of the young woman live here.

The case has also badly tarnished India’s image abroad.

As ever, journalists reporting this story have come looking for symbols of the bigger picture – and this place has now come to signify the dark side of India many see as being behind this gruesome crime.

Most of its residents are migrants who have come to Delhi from impoverished rural areas, widely seen as the cradle of regressive attitudes to women, where figures show rapes are commonplace but rarely reported because of the social stigma.

Fitting perhaps that the district takes its name from a nearby shrine to a man born of India’s untouchable castes.

And yet the narrative many have given this place didn’t entirely fit. This is not a tumble-down slum for “just arrived” rural migrants, as some reports have suggested, the soil of the fields still under their nails.

Many residents have been here 20 years. It’s far from comfortable living, but far better than many slum settlements I’ve seen – with solidly built stone dwellings, neat and brightly painted – and everyone has basic services like electricity, water and sewage.

“Don’t think we’re all like the accused,” said another neighbour. “When you grind wheat to make flour, insects will come out with it too,” she said.

All the children go to school every day. And as we were talking to neighbours I noticed three older boys listening. They all spoke perfect English, it turned out, and were doing business studies at a local college.

They would not have looked out of place among the many young people protesting over the rape in recent weeks.

Yes they knew some of the accused, but you should not assume we are all like them, they said. And it got me thinking about the many different realities to this story.

Along with many others, I have reported the middle class Indians, young and old who have been taking the lead.

The narrative has been – one I have gone with too – that these are the people standing up for a more liberal, open country. But there is plenty of evidence that India’s wealthier, more educated classes can be just as sexist in their attitudes towards girls and women.

Every year, thousands of girls are aborted because of a traditional preference for sons – medical staff are bribed into revealing the sex of the child.

It is leading to an increasingly skewed ratio of women to men. And some of the worst figures are in rich south Delhi.

Just like in a small village, many middle class families also prefer a son to inherit their property. One of the many consequences of having fewer women is increased trafficking for forced marriage and prostitution – and so the cycle of abuse goes on.

And while India’s Congress party-led government has condemned the gang rape and promised new fast-track courts to deal with it, no politician has addressed the wider cultural issues.

Yet something has also changed, in the questions people are asking, how they are acting.

During the week, I interviewed a woman who had survived a rape – and years after the attack is still struggling to get justice.

She joined the protests on the streets of Delhi too, where there were plenty of reports of men using the opportunity to grope women.

But she said she was also struck by how many young men intervened to protect her and her friends, forming a circle around them if anyone got too close.

Musicians and Bollywood film-makers are suddenly under pressure to justify songs and movies that portray women as sex objects.

Harrowing details from an interview the victim’s friend has given about the attack and the way the authorities treated them may encourage even more soul-searching.

And one image sticks in my mind from these past weeks – an Indian man sitting at one of the protests with a candle at his feet, quietly showing solidarity with the brutally murdered girl.

And in front of him he had a placard which read: “Let us look at ourselves first.”

Three Delhi gang rape suspects to plead not guilty

Three of the five men accused of the abduction, gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi will plead not guilty to all charges against them, their lawyer has said.

Manohar Lal Sharma told the BBC the three – Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur and Ram Singh – should get a fair trial.

The five accused were charged on Monday. The next hearing in the case will be held on Thursday.

The case has shocked India and prompted a debate about the treatment of women.

A sixth suspect, who is thought to be 17, will be tried separately in a youth court if it is confirmed he is a minor.

On Thursday, a magistrate is expected to transfer the case for trial to a special fast-track court.

If convicted, the suspects could face the death penalty. Prosecutors have said they have extensive forensic evidence.

Public outcry

Mr Sharma said he would file a representation letter on behalf of his clients on Thursday.

“I believe the accused should get a fair trial and I have come forward to represent them,” he said, adding that he plans to challenge the police over their handling of the evidence linking the accused to the case.

It is not clear how the other two suspects – Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma – will plead or who will represent them.

Earlier reports said they had offered to give evidence, possibly in return for a lighter sentence.

The lawyers’ association in the district of Saket, where hearings in the case are being held, has refused to defend the accused because of the outcry the crime has provoked.

The case has triggered numerous protests, as have suggestions by various public figures that women themselves can be partly to blame for being raped.

Most recently the popular guru Asharam, known to his followers as “Bapu” or father, told followers that the tragedy would not have happened if the victim had chanted God’s name and fallen at the feet of the attackers.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, spokesman for the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, condemned the remarks.

“For him to make the statement in relation to a crime which has shocked the conscience of the country is not only unfortunate, but deeply regrettable,” he said.

The victim and a male friend were attacked on a bus in south Delhi on 16 December. She died two weeks later in a hospital in Singapore.

Campaigners are calling for tougher rape laws and reforms to the police, who – critics say – often fail to file charges against accused attackers.

Father ‘wants victim named’

The father of an Indian woman who was gang raped in Delhi and later died says her name should be made public so she can serve as an inspiration to other sex crime victims, a UK paper reports.

Britain’s Sunday People newspaper quoted the father as saying: “We want the world to know her real name.”

But Indian media later said the father denied giving consent for her name to be revealed.

Indian law protects sex crime victims by prohibiting identification.

One minister, Shashi Tharoor, has urged authorities to reveal the name so it can be used for a new anti-rape law.

The woman, 23, died last weekend in a hospital in Singapore from injuries suffered during last month’s attack.

‘Find strength’

The father was quoted as telling the Sunday People: “My daughter didn’t do anything wrong, she died while protecting herself.

“I am proud of her. Revealing her name will give courage to other women who have survived these attacks. They will find strength from my daughter.”

However, the Hindustan Times later quoted the father as saying he would want the name made public only if a law was named after her.

“I have only said we won’t have any objection if the government uses my daughter’s name for a new law for crime against women that is more stringent and better framed that the existing one,” the Indian paper quoted him as saying.

The laws on identification were introduced to protect victims from the social stigma associated with rape, and apply even after the death of the victim.

Although the system has not always been watertight, the high-profile case has brought a tough stance from the authorities.

Police filed a case against broadcaster Zee News after it carried an interview with the friend who was with the victim during the attack.

The victim’s friend was not named but his face was shown and police are investigating whether Zee News broke broadcasting laws relating to disclosure of the victim’s identity.

However, it remains unclear what could be done if the father chose to publicly name his daughter.

Last week, Mr Tharoor, the junior education minister, called on the authorities to reveal the name of the gang-rape victim so that the new anti-rape law could be named after her.

He wrote: “Unless her parents object, she should be honoured and the revised anti-rape law named after her. She was a human being with a name, not just a symbol.”

The Sunday People said the father had given it permission to name him and his daughter.

It carried a photograph of the father but said the family had requested no photograph of the victim be used.

In the interview, the father also renewed his calls for the men who carried out the attack to be hanged.

“Death for all six of them. These men are beasts. They should be made an example of and that society will not allow such things to happen,” he said.

Five men have been charged with abduction, rape and murder. A sixth suspect is expected to be tried as a juvenile.

A pre-court hearing for the five was held in the Saket area of the Indian capital on Saturday and the men have been summoned to appear in court on Monday.

Frequent protests

In his interview with Zee News, the friend said he and the rape victim had boarded a bus after a trip to the cinema and after failing to flag down an auto-rickshaw.

He said the bus had tinted windows, and that he believed the group of men had laid a trap for them.

He confirmed that the assailants had later thrown them off the bus and tried to run them over.

The case has caused a national outcry, and there have been frequent protests calling for greater protection for women.

 Delhi to appoint more policewomen

Women will be recruited for every police station in Delhi, Indian officials say, after an outcry over the December rape and murder of a student.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said India had to crack down on crimes against women with an “iron hand”.

The 23-year-old woman was attacked on a bus while making her way home.

Five men have been charged and could be handed the death penalty if found guilty. A sixth suspect is likely to be tried in a juvenile court.

Mr Shinde called a meeting of law enforcement officials from around India to consider how to improve protection for women.

He told delegates that the entire system needed to be reappraised.

“These kinds of incidents, and rage against women and weaker sections of our society, are unacceptable to our democracy. These need to be curbed with an iron hand,” he said.

He had earlier announced that each of the 166 police stations in Delhi would have women officers available at all times, and that more women would be recruited across the country.

At the moment many police stations in the city do not have any women on their staff.

Officials say it is often difficult for policemen to assist a female victim.

The government has been under pressure to act since the woman was attacked on a bus while she was travelling home from a visit to the cinema on 16 December.

She was beaten with metal bars and gang raped for an hour, and died from her injuries two weeks later.

The case sparked huge protests and demands for better protection for women.

The five adult men accused of the attack are expected to go on trial at a fast-track court at the weekend.

The Bar Association has said none of its members was willing to defend the suspects, so the court is expected to appoint defence lawyers itself.

The victim’s father said he backed calls for the men to be executed if found guilty.

Delhi officials have responded to criticism that they are failing to protect women by announcing a series of measures intended to make the city safer.

These include more police night patrols, checks on bus drivers and their assistants, and the banning of buses with tinted windows or curtains.

The government has also set up a committee under a retired Supreme Court judge to recommend changes to the anti-rape law.

A telephone helpline has been launched for women in distress, connected to police stations across the city.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20910661