National Crime Records Bureau’s annual Crime in India reports show that most crimes committed against foreigners in India fail to reach the courts.
According to the data, one in about 20 rape cases in which victims are foreigners result in convictions
Between 2016 and 2022, a total of 148 rape cases with foreign victims were officially recorded in India. During the period, the courts issued the final word only in 16 cases. The disposal of cases here does not necessarily mean convictions, rather it includes all final acts of the court like discharges, acquittals, or even abandoning without trial if the case gets quashed, withdrawn, abated or ended in a plea negotiation.
Of those 16 disposals, only seven were convictions. Moreover, these seven convictions could have come in cases filed much before 2016.
It is worth noting here that a large number of cases go unreported due to several reasons. Most often, in cases of murders, the traces or evidence leading to the crime are destroyed or kept hidden by the culprits
More importantly, psychologists suggest that any exposure to traumatic events in an alien environment could hurt the individual, which makes the person reluctant to indulge in the procedure of reporting the crime.
On social media, amid the current row, many foreigners who have visited India shared their bad experiences in past while approaching authorities with their grievances. This appears to be another factor causing reluctance to file a complaint or follow the case legally.
Apart from rape, while 65 cases were reported under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, no convictions were recorded. Of the 35 forgery cases no accused was reportedly convicted.
Only three convictions were reported in a total of 79 murder cases. According to 2022 data, number of murder cases pending in courts is 69.
Among the countless theft cases, on average, one in 88 cases results in convictions.
In 2022, the number of rape cases pending had increased to 131 from 33 back in 2016. Similarly, cases of assault on women with intent to outrage modesty saw an increase from 70 to 137 within the same period.
Following the recent incident in Jharkhand, where a Brazilian-Spanish biker couple was assaulted by a group of seven men, and the woman was raped, several women from different parts of the world shared their stories of dealing with unwanted sexual attention while travelling in India.
Without paying heed to the alarming increase in crimes against foreign tourists in the country, ultra-nationalists and the government authorities shifted the blame and accused the victims of ‘defaming’ the nation by publicising the incident.
Notably, the chief of India’s National Commission for Women, Rekha Sharma, also sparked criticism after her derogatory remarks regarding the mass outrage over the incident.
She was responding to a post from a US journalist who wrote that while India was one of his favourite places, “the level of sexual aggression” he witnessed while living in the country was “unlike anywhere else I have ever been”. He also gave a couple of examples of sexual assault faced by women he knew.
“Did you ever report the incident to the police?” Ms Sharma wrote. “If not then you are an irresponsible person. Writing only on social media and defaming the whole country is not a good choice.”
Sexual violence targeting women has seen a hike in India during the past few years, with women from minority and tribal communities being particularly at risk.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, an average of nearly 90 rapes were reported in India every day in 2022.
With a total of 31,516 rape cases that year, it was estimated that one woman was raped every 18 minutes.
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh states recorded the highest number of cases.
