Is Delhi the rape capital of India or a victim of warped reporting?

singsub

Mod note: Many posts have been moved from another thread to create this one, since that thread was irretrievably offtopic.

We are like this only

not true. the chinese of singapore hardly mix with indians and certainly dont think highly of india/indians/indian culture.

very true, especially in delhi, the rape capital of india.

very right. it was Radha Binod Pal though.

pre123

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Dilliwala

Oh how intelligent, repeat every damn media cliche you come across.

Without condoning even one of them, in Delhi rapes raise a hue and cry becos they are reported (still not all). If all rapes in this country were reported, Delhi's stats wud be unremarkable in comparison.
Just ask any dalit villagers in rural India what goes on.

machadinha

The remark didn't sit that greatly at this end either, no.

One hears of Delhi's reputation though. Then again I still hear of women getting by just fine there. Some of them on this board even. Obviously not all women there are subject to rape just for stepping outside.

And so one (I) often wonders if those reports bear no relation to an influx of certain people and their expectations, too.

Don't get me wrong: But it surprises me to read here about the apparent dire warnings in some guidebooks (the ones I read didn't feature those about a decade ago) & the appaling stories on some of their web forums. Either that's all true -- or it betrays the increasing number of people moving all over the world at the drop of a keyboard button & with not the slightest idea of where they're going.

I'm not exaggerating either -- shortly ago (I lost the link, may have been in Dutch anyway) I read an article about international embassy personnel being up in arms now because, while in "ye olde days" they had to contend with the odd stranded hobo, today they're faced with a deluge of very "straight" people beset by very straightforward and avoidable hassles (health, theft, running out of money, not to mention the odious yet widely-reported "scams," etc.), just because they think they can go anywhere because the internet tells them so (Hey, here's a cheap ticket), without ever informing themselves about where they're going.

And those same people expecting those embassies to resolve their every whim of course. Which they are obviously not in a position to do, and even less so because of those increasing numbers.

If you think you can run out of money and get a free ticket home, this may have been untrue two decades ago, but it's certainly even untruer today. I guess too many people have tried.

But so anyway back to the point, I don't think (and actually refuse to believe that) a ticket to Delhi is a one-way ticket to rape no. Maybe I should speak to my lady friends again on their current views, but this whole idea that one should stay indoors after dark etc. I find blatantly absurd if not patronizing and paternalistic, if not to say: simply sexist.

And/or if it's really that bad (which again I very much doubt): Take to the streets, ladies! You know you have the numbers.

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Haylo

Thank you Dilliwala, for providing the voice of reason.

Singsub, irresponsible comments like that can cause undue anxiety to women, especially anyone travelling on their own. Please think before you post such things.

Dilliwala

Oh, just to clarify, by "media", I meant Indian media, specially TV. Nice and short as a sound-bite. Basically the method is to associate anything that concerns Delhi (good or bad) with the word 'capital', so you get "_____ (as per choice) capital of India". Not a lot of thinking required.

Again, I am not dismissing any risk and of course crime has taken a turn for the worse over the last decade (but also countrywide. And maybe worldwide?), one needs to be careful like in any big city, be it Mumbai or New York or Bangkok. But "rape capital" is too strong, plain inaccurate, and just scare-mongering.
I, like other Dilliwale, can take a lot about my hometown (in fact we're pretty blase about it), but plain trashing for the sake of it will be challenged.

edwardseco

All too true Dilli..

singsub

i used to stay in delhi. i had college going friends there. i know exactly how they view north easterners.

as for delhi being better than rural india in terms of number of rapes, lets assume you are right. and that all remote indian villages have enough rapes to put delhi's to shame, it would still leave a lot of metro and tier 2 and tier 3 cities in india, which have no problems with media reporting. how do you explain that delhi has more rapes than mumbai, kolkata and chennai combined.

singsub

i want to know what was so irresponible.

women travellers to india should know that delhi has a lot more rapes than say mumbai or hyderabad or bangalore or chandigarh or kolkata.

as for my comment about north easterners and delhi - again it holds true. north easterners all over india are viewed as easy meat. its just that delhi has the maximum ammount of immigrant female student population from north east indian states than any other city in india, even kolkata, tho kolkkata is nearer to the NE. also the youth of delhi finish second only to those of chandigarh when it comes to rowdiness, brashness, boozing and profanity.

singsub

bangalore has more suicides than any other city in india. its called the suicide capital of india.

delhi has more rape cases than any other city india. what should we call it?

how is it "plain inaccurate"??

Dilliwala

<cross-posted>
I used to stay in Delhi. Went to college here. Stay here still. Will in the foreseeable future too.
I know exactly how my friends and I viewed Northeasterners.
(Waitaminnit, if some of my college-friends were NEerners themselves, does it matter how they viewed themselves? )
Obviously you were mixing with the wrong people.

Quote:

it would still leave a lot of metro and tier 2 and tier 3 cities in india, which have no problems with media reporting.

Really? Which wud those be? Far's I know the smaller the town, the more problematic the reporting.
Given that you are prone to making wild sweeping statements without ever offering any proof, not even a specious link, I'll await your list before responding further.

Give me the authenticated source for this info, then I'll respond.
Refer to above for what I think of you as an authentic source.

And include your Delhi/Chandigarh statement in the same category.
Your statement about NEners also doesn't read the same as before - you yourself have made the statistical argument now: *
"north easterners all over india are viewed as easy meat. its just that delhi has the maximum ammount of immigrant female student population from north indian states than any other city in india,"

* Sheer numbers mean nothing, let's have a rapes-to-total population list, if you have one.

capt_mahajan

I kind of agree with DW about the reporting and statistics. I also believe that, like Washington DC, Delhi hits the spotlight because its the capital. Somehow, one expects national capitals to be safer.

And, the Delhi police, btw, is more proactive than most in other cities, in my view.

BUT

To me, more than the rapes and statistics, the fact that a single woman is generally more prone to 'eve teasing' sometimes bordering on assault, lewd comments and catcalls and generally needs to be more wary in Delhi than in other big cities (Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore) is disappointing.

And I say this after having lived in all those cities except Bangalore for more than three years each, though in Chennai I was a resident for half of every month for two years.

Haylo

It has already been explained why the term "Rape Capital" is inappropriate. As you clearly have a different viewpoint about the use of such terms, there is no point in my trying to persuade you otherwise, we will have to agree to differ on the matter.

Only if Dehhi does in fact have more actual rapes per head of population, rather than reported rapes. This may or not be the case, and so far all we have to substantiate the claim is your own opinion.

Rates of reporting are notoriously difficult to judge rates of crime by. When the authorities start taking a crime more seriously, paradoxically the figures soar, because it suddenly reporting it is an option.

This is not about how "safe" one city is compared to another, it is about being in a position to make informed choices. There may be areas where there has not been a single rape officially reported since records began. Does that mean it is safe to go out alone at night? Not necessarily, no.

Oh, and while I realise far more women seem to feel nervous about being raped than men, and women are more likely to be harrassed in the street, please remember that is it not only women who get raped. Many men and boys are attacked and raped, and very few are prepared to report it even in England. I imagine that in India even fewer men would report a rape or sexual assault and have to deal with the physical and psychological consequences without being able to confide in anyone, not even close friends.

Dilliwala

Exactly the point I was trying to make, but less succinctly.

It is not an unreasonable expectation for people to expect the national capital to be safe/r (hey, we're included in that number!), but one has to look at it in a different light - after all it is just another large city and has to be policed accordingly.
Plus for myself, I never understand how the police are supposed to anticipate an intended rape or other crime, short of posting a cop every 30 yards across the entire city, in every college dorm and who knows where else. In short, a police state. I need not go into detail about what most Indians wud think of such a situation, never mind about where the money's going to come from. Therefore, rape and its prevention becomes a sociological issue more than a police issue.

Disappointing is too mild/polite a description.
It is a simple Q of geography, we are right in the middle of the aggressive northie heartland.
Many years ago I read a description of Delhi as "an overgrown village". Very true at the time, and though liberalisation/globalisation/whatever has added some sophistication , still quite true till today.


While it's possible that a small number of rapes of boys (minors) are reported, I'm pretty sure that the reported rapes of adult males is zero.

Haylo

Which unfortunately means that every single rapist who preys on men has gone unpunished and is free to continue.

Perhaps the guys should be feeling a bit more nervous about travelling alone!