Let's not forget it happens there as well

Earlier this week, a man who was sentenced to death for partaking in the Delhi Rape Case released a statement blaming the victim for her death. The man, Mukesh Singh, stated that "A decent girl won’t be roaming about at nine o’clock at night." Now, I don’t think I need to go into what is wrong with this statement. This is Tufts, and I think we all know that this statement is grossly incorrect and that a victim should never be blamed for a rape. Furthermore, shouldn’t a woman be able to walk around as late as she wants? But that belief is held in the United States, not in India. While speaking to Tufts student Srinitha Dasari – who spent half her childhood in India and half her childhood in the United States – about the recent developments in the Delhi case, she said that “The sentiments that he brings across echo the sentiments of higher officials. There is an underlying culture of blame.” In other words, and to paraphrase Srinitha's words further, this is not just a mentally ill man making ridiculously offensive statements. Rather, his words actually hold weight in India, and that is pretty upsetting. In fact, government officials, the ones who are supposed to be protecting their citizens, came out in support of the rapists rather than the victim.

Now, as someone who has spent her whole life in America, I cannot imagine what it's like to grow up in a country where one’s officials don't believe a woman has the right to her own body, so I don’t think it's something I can give my opinion on beyond saying that I disagree with it. Srinitha, though, told me that she and her friends from home were deeply upset by these statements and that they were tired of "always being forced to take the blame for it." Of course, that is a logical response to such a horrific event and such offensive statements, but it's important because sometimes I think we have a tendency to read news like this and think, "Oh, it’s India. It’s a different country." But, as Srinitha pointed out to me, “At Tufts, we love talking about race, and Israel-Palestine, and then there are also things we tend to ignore, like the Delhi rape case.”

Now, yes, this is just one student’s view, and of course it depends on where you’re looking for these types of conversations, but she does have a point. It seems to me that this particular issue is not talked about much at Tufts. I find the lack of discussion sad because, even though these events are obviously taking place in a different country, they still are very relevant to what is going on here. Rape doesn’t just happen in India, of course. In fact, just last week we had the forum "It Happens Here" about how rape happens here at Tufts. In other words, although these events are taking place on another continent, they still hold much relevancy here at Tufts.

The most recent development in the Delhi rape case has to do with the documentary "India’s Daughter" (2015), about the events of the Delhi rape case. The film was set to premiere in India, but after Singh’s statements were released, the public rage they were met with caused the Indian government to ban the film. The government urged BBC to also shut down broadcasting the film, but ultimately it was aired in Britain. There was much uproar about the film’s ban in India, and there is speculation by the co-producers of the film about how to legally fight the ban on the film. Of course, coming from my background, I believe the film should be released. Despite the fact that, from the descriptions, it sounds deeply disturbing and horrific, it's important for the Indian public to know about these events and understand exactly how terrible they were.