This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/28/world/asia/indian-teenagers-rape-murder.html
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| 2 Indian Teenagers Thought to Be Murdered Actually Killed Themselves, Inquiry Finds | 2 Indian Teenagers Thought to Be Murdered Actually Killed Themselves, Inquiry Finds |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| NEW DELHI — When the bodies of two teenage cousins were found hanging from a mango tree in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in May, the police initially said the girls had been abducted and raped, in what seemed like yet another grisly crime against women in India. | NEW DELHI — When the bodies of two teenage cousins were found hanging from a mango tree in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in May, the police initially said the girls had been abducted and raped, in what seemed like yet another grisly crime against women in India. |
| But the country’s top investigative agency announced this week that the girls, whose bodies were surrounded by a crush of TV reporters while they were still hanging from the tree, had killed themselves and that no rape or abduction was suspected. | But the country’s top investigative agency announced this week that the girls, whose bodies were surrounded by a crush of TV reporters while they were still hanging from the tree, had killed themselves and that no rape or abduction was suspected. |
| “Our probe found that the two girls had committed suicide and weren’t murdered,” Ranjit Sinha, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation of India, told The Hindustan Times, referring to them as siblings. “The local police had erroneously conducted their probe along the lines that the sisters were killed.” | |
| The findings put a strange coda on a case that became a symbol of what many claimed was the precarious safety of women in India. Along with the case of a medical student who was gang-raped and tortured on a New Delhi bus in December 2012, the grisly deaths of the Badaun girls, so called after the district where they lived, was seen as representing all that was wrong with India’s patriarchal culture. As recently as Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, cited the Badaun case at an event celebrating an international day to end violence against women. | The findings put a strange coda on a case that became a symbol of what many claimed was the precarious safety of women in India. Along with the case of a medical student who was gang-raped and tortured on a New Delhi bus in December 2012, the grisly deaths of the Badaun girls, so called after the district where they lived, was seen as representing all that was wrong with India’s patriarchal culture. As recently as Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, cited the Badaun case at an event celebrating an international day to end violence against women. |
| As awareness of the crime grew, the news media in this nation of 1.2 billion began reporting rapes almost daily, giving India an image of a place deeply antagonistic to women. Tourism suffered. Parliament passed a tough law to crack down on sexual violence. | As awareness of the crime grew, the news media in this nation of 1.2 billion began reporting rapes almost daily, giving India an image of a place deeply antagonistic to women. Tourism suffered. Parliament passed a tough law to crack down on sexual violence. |
| But many sociologists here have questioned whether India was experiencing a true epidemic of rapes or if it was simply going through a media-created frenzy. Surveys around the world have shown that Indian women actually experience comparatively low levels of sexual violence. | But many sociologists here have questioned whether India was experiencing a true epidemic of rapes or if it was simply going through a media-created frenzy. Surveys around the world have shown that Indian women actually experience comparatively low levels of sexual violence. |
| The reasons are complex. For one, Indian women, particularly in the more conservative north of the country, are often severely restricted in their movements. | The reasons are complex. For one, Indian women, particularly in the more conservative north of the country, are often severely restricted in their movements. |
| In a survey, most married women reported being unable to visit a nearby village or neighborhood unaccompanied. | In a survey, most married women reported being unable to visit a nearby village or neighborhood unaccompanied. |
| The relatively low levels of sexual violence do not mean that India is an entirely safe place for women. Using techniques pioneered by Amartya Sen, an economist who won the Nobel Prize in 1998, researchers estimate that there are as many as 100 million “missing women,” as Mr. Sen called them, in India. These are women who would be alive if they died at the same rates relative to men as woman die relative to men in more developed countries, and their ranks grow by nearly two million each year, studies by an American and Canadian research team concluded. | The relatively low levels of sexual violence do not mean that India is an entirely safe place for women. Using techniques pioneered by Amartya Sen, an economist who won the Nobel Prize in 1998, researchers estimate that there are as many as 100 million “missing women,” as Mr. Sen called them, in India. These are women who would be alive if they died at the same rates relative to men as woman die relative to men in more developed countries, and their ranks grow by nearly two million each year, studies by an American and Canadian research team concluded. |
| Much of the reason is that families invest far more in caring for boys than they do for girls. Approximately two-thirds of infants in neonatal intensive care units, for instance, are boys. Tens of thousands of women are killed annually in disputes related to marriages and dowries, researchers estimate. | Much of the reason is that families invest far more in caring for boys than they do for girls. Approximately two-thirds of infants in neonatal intensive care units, for instance, are boys. Tens of thousands of women are killed annually in disputes related to marriages and dowries, researchers estimate. |
| But over all, India has fairly low levels of violence, and that is true for women as well. Indian husbands beat their wives far less than men in many other developing countries, according to comparable surveys done in multiple countries. Domestic violence levels are far higher in Colombia, Egypt, Peru and Zambia than in India, the surveys found. | But over all, India has fairly low levels of violence, and that is true for women as well. Indian husbands beat their wives far less than men in many other developing countries, according to comparable surveys done in multiple countries. Domestic violence levels are far higher in Colombia, Egypt, Peru and Zambia than in India, the surveys found. |
| In the Baudan case, forensic reports confirmed that the girls were not raped. And the police said that a key early witness in the case, Nazru, a man with one name who was distantly related to the girls, lied when he told the police that he had seen a suspect drag the two girls away. That suspect, along with four others arrested in the case, has since been released. | In the Baudan case, forensic reports confirmed that the girls were not raped. And the police said that a key early witness in the case, Nazru, a man with one name who was distantly related to the girls, lied when he told the police that he had seen a suspect drag the two girls away. That suspect, along with four others arrested in the case, has since been released. |
| Still, the news media’s attention to the issue of rape has had salutary effects, Ravinder Kaur, a professor of sociology at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, said on Thursday. The number of rapes reported to the police in recent years has surged, suggesting that the increased attention to the crime may be encouraging more women to seek criminal charges against their abusers rather than suffer in silence, she said. | Still, the news media’s attention to the issue of rape has had salutary effects, Ravinder Kaur, a professor of sociology at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, said on Thursday. The number of rapes reported to the police in recent years has surged, suggesting that the increased attention to the crime may be encouraging more women to seek criminal charges against their abusers rather than suffer in silence, she said. |
| “Whether there’s a real increase in rapes recently is impossible to tell at the moment,” Dr. Kaur said. “And the Badaun case should give us all pause. People made a lot of assumptions about those girls, and now we know almost every one of those assumptions were not true.” | “Whether there’s a real increase in rapes recently is impossible to tell at the moment,” Dr. Kaur said. “And the Badaun case should give us all pause. People made a lot of assumptions about those girls, and now we know almost every one of those assumptions were not true.” |