Women raped by family members in India

In India, an uncle is allowed to marry his niece. A large number of Indian women are even raped by their brothers.

 

A marriage between relatives is socially and culturally accepted behaviour in India. (Photo by: flikr)

 

Incests that are currently the topic of much discussion

 

The most infamous case is, of course, that of Austrian Josef Fritzl, who stirred up the public by sexually abusing his own daughter for 24 years. After the horrific acts of the ‘monster from Amstetten were made public, similar cases appeared in the media, such as the case of the French woman who bore her father 6 children and the cases of the ‘Argentinean’ and ‘British Fritzl’, who also sexually abused their daughters and fathered several children with them. The whole world is horrified by these and similar cases of incest and many people feel that the severe sentence won’t serve justice in any case. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, incest is sexual activity between two people who’re very closely related in a family, for example, a brother and sister, or a father and daughter. An incestuous relationship between a parent and child is considered the worst form of sexual abuse against a child. It can leave physical as well as psychological consequences which are often untreatable.

 

Recently, the case of the ‘monster from Amstetten’ greatly stirred up the public. (Photo by: APA via Getty Images)

 

Incest: the shameful side of India

The taboo topic such as incest will clearly always be wrapped in mystery, particularly in countries such as India. In the southern part of India, a marriage between cousins (that is, children of brothers and sisters) is quite common and allowed by their culture. A marriage between an uncle and niece is also allowed. In most cases, a woman is the daughter of an elder sister. In India, such a marriage isn’t considered an incestuous relationship because it’s a culturally accepted form of marriage. BBC has recently warned about the seriousness of this issue, since this form of culturally accepted patterns supposedly hides the actual number of cases of children and teenage girls sexually abused by their family members. Namely, the interests of a society and family often obscure such abuse. The report of an Indian organisation dealing with such abuse called Voices from the Silent Zone insinuates that three quarters of Indian women from high and middle social classes are sexually abused by their family members, often involving uncles, cousins or elder brothers (source: merinews.com). Five per cent of abused children are boys and 95 per cent are girls, and the victims rarely seek help.

 

In cases of incest, 95 per cent of victims are girls and often the perpetrators are uncles, cousins and elder brothers.

 

What about the law?

 

In India, no law specifically deals with incest and there’s also no clear distinction between sexual abuse and sexual assault. The law stipulating that it’s prohibited to dishonour a woman is deemed to ban rape (penetration with the penis), while a ban on unnatural forms of a sexual relationship is considered as the ban on sodomy. These two acts are therefore punished as criminal, sexual offences. Although there are many lawyers, children and activists who draw attention to this burning issue, their loud voices still aren’t strong enough to bring about the necessary changes. They should, of course, reach the ears and hearts of the whole world. They also lack the statistical data on cases of abuse as victim keep quiet because of embarrassment, family honour and social deprivation. Namely, every recorded piece of information on abuse is valuable because it’s a step closer to solving this silent problem. While people call for the enforcement of the ban in India, Europe thinks about decriminalisation.

 

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