Two Young Girls Hanged: Indian Gang Rape Continues In New Delhi

Background

India is a country where there is a rape every 22 seconds. The fact that that number doesn’t shock you already tells you what you need to know about the current climate towards sexual abuse in the world. After a highly publicized and brutal rape in 2012, India has tightened its laws against sexual abuse. While governmental indifference is an undeniably large problem, in this specific instance a more specific problem is the mentality of people at large.

The Current Situation

Two girls lived in a house without a bathroom; before they went to bed they decided to go outside to relive themselves. The next time anyone saw them, they were hanging from a mango tree. Autopsy confirmed that both girls had been raped and subsequently strangled. People in the village have claimed that it took the police way too long to respond to the tragedy, and expressed their sentiments by forming a human wall around the girls (still in the tree), not allowing the police to take the girls down for approximately 15 hours. Theory is that 3 brothers, two of whom are policemen, carried out the attack. Of the three, two are currently in police custody, while the police are looking for the third suspect.

Progress?

So far, three police officers have been suspended from duty, and one has been arrested. The reason given for this is that the government agrees with the people, the police (specifically those whom have already been apprehended) did not handle the situation in a timely or efficient manner. A stronger civil reaction to this matter is definitely progress. However, the fact that a sexual assault this horrid (like all sexual assaults) occurred, as well as a lack of timely police reaction indicates that our mindset as a society may not be as progressive as we’d like.