A Danish woman was gangraped in Delhi when she lost her way to hotel around 2-3 weeks back, a 21 year old Japanese tourist was gangraped in Kolkata in last month again and I could just go on and on about so many other cases.
Why does this happen? Is our country so hostile for foreign female travelers?
Is “Atithi Devo Bhava” just a BS that we say? Leave apart making them feel like a god, we can’t even make them feel like a human being.
When you are traveling in a metro, or walking through a market, the moment a foreigner is spotted, sex craving men start staring them in a way that they could rape them with their naked eyes. Why is such a hunger for sex here?
Whenever there is a highlighted rape case, the numbers of foreign women visiting India go down drastically. After the infamous Delhi rape case in 2013, the percentage of foreign women visiting India fell more than 35%.
Foreigners in India come to have a nice relaxing time here, to feel what this culturally diverse country has to offer them, to experience the serenity of its beauty and to spiritually enlighten them. But what do they get in return?
They can’t afford to walk alone; they can’t go out in night, can’t meet strangers and make friends or even accept a candy from a stranger on a train.
Even those women, who are not raped, face some sort of molestation. You can find various discussion forums online where multiple foreing women tell that they have been molested in one form or the other in India. Some may grab their ass while they are out in the market, or taxi drivers may feel them while taking money from their hands or “stare rape” is one just other way.
And this is not just happening in small cities. Our metro cities and our capital Delhi is more popular spots for such incidents.
This is what a notice on British government website has to say to tourists visiting India:
Women should use caution when travelling in India. Reported cases of sexual assault against women and young girls are increasing; recent sexual attacks against female visitors in tourist areas and cities show that foreign women are also at risk. British women have been the victims of sexual assault in Goa, Delhi, Bangalore and Rajasthan and women travelers often receive unwanted attention in the form of verbal and physical harassment by individuals or groups of men. Serious sexual attacks involving Polish, German and Danish women travelers were reported in 2014. In January 2015, a Japanese woman was kidnapped and sexually assaulted close to Bodh Gaya and a Russian woman was seriously assaulted by an auto-rickshaw driver in the Vasant Kunj area of New Delhi. Women travelers should exercise caution when travelling in India even if travelling in a group.
If you are a woman travelling in India you should respect local dress codes and customs and avoid isolated areas, including beaches, when alone at any time of day.
And there’s a lot more they say about the country that preaches the thought of “Athithi Devo Bhava”. Is this what the roots of our country is? We talk about society, we talk about religion, We even don’t go for love marriage for crying out loud; but what are we at the end of the day? What message are we sending to the world?
If we can’t guarantee the safety of a foreign woman here, then its better if we ask them not to come. Stay away. For we, don’t treat foreign woman like Gods here, that’s just a lure to attract you here and then treat you like a pig. Yes, that’s what it is, at least now.
