Creating a new New Delhi

Tomorrow is New Delhi’s SlutWalk. There are many opinions about the idea of a SlutWalk, about the cultural “appropriateness” of the idea in Delhi, the issue of class and those privileged enough to participate and get their drivers to pick them up afterwards. To this I will simply lay out that, for me, the importance piece of this is women reclaiming public space. Especially in a city like New Delhi where if you are out in public as a woman, day or night, you can expect to be catcalled, harassed, or groped. It is this sad state of the status quo that this walk aims to change.

I read an interesting article in The Star a few weeks ago about the New Dehli SlutWalk. Two thoughts ran through me: admiration for the women who will carry this out and fear for them.

Featured in the article was an interview with New Delhi police inspector Pavan Kumar who likely epitomizes the attitude towards women in the city. He led the police unit that investigated rape allegations for fifteen years. His explanation for the high rate of rape as compared to other Indian cities was that really, half the cases were only filed as a result of family pressure to cover up their daughter’s consensual sexual involvement with a man.

“A woman would go back home to her family and they would want to know who she was with and where she was. She’d say she was taken without consent to relieve the pressure on her.”

Seriously?

The fact that this man held a position of power in a unit that investigated rape allegation absolutely disgusts me. Was he appointed because of his attitudes, or was he one of the more progressive chaps in New Dehli’s police force?

For a woman to be brave enough to report a rape and for a family in such a climate to be supportive of her be simply cast off in this light is abhorrent.

Rape is ultimately an act of violence. No amount of flesh shown by a woman can justify it. Men are not simply driven to it because of women. It is insulting to all the respectful men I know to pre-suppose such a thing.

But that's not all Kumar had to say. The police inspector went on to explain why New Delhi’s rape statistics are higher than Mumbai’s: “Maybe it’s the climatic conditions,” he said. “Mumbai is humid but they have the winds blowing off the water so much. Here there is none of that relief. The temperature is so high and you see people angry here. We have so many incidences of road rage.”

Kumar assumes it must be something innate in the environment that drives men to rape. As if such a brutal act is simply a response to the weather. I cannot wrap my head around how he could find this to be a rational explanation that is appropriate to share for print.

For a woman to be in public on a hot day in Delhi is not a good enough reason for her to be harassed, groped or raped. A woman may have the right to be out in public, but that does not mean she will be safe in public. Every society owes it to half their population to ensure this basic right.

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On a related note, an interesting academic exploration of gendered use of public space in Mumbai I have come across is the book Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets by Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan and Shilpa Ranade. I haven't read the book yet but have read other pieces by Shilpa Phadke on the subject that have been excellent.