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The situation in some (not all) parts of India is pretty bad. Basically a number of factors have worked together to make this so. There is, as in every country in the world it would seem, an endemic level of rape and sexual violence against women and children. This happens everywhere, including in our own countries.
The deeply patriarchal nature of Indian culture, alongside the sanctifying of mothers and motherhood, means that women who are not mothers have very low status, are judged primarily on their 'virtue' and carry, in their adherence to sexual abstinence until given to a husband, the honour of their families. Rape, in such a culture, does more damage to the victim's reputation than to the rapist's. It is often seen as against the interests of both the girl and the family, for any prosecution to be sought. It is also generally seen as a matter of her word against his. Generally speaking, the more a society attempts to protect and regulate female sexual behaviour, the more suspicious it is of women's ability to control their sexual behaviour. In our liberal society, legal action often runs aground on the rocks of a fundamental disbelief and mistrust of women and female sexuality - recently we had a judge, in a case against a 40+ year old known pedophile, rule that the 13 year old was 'predatory' and allow the defendant to walk away with a 2 year suspended sentence.
In a society in which female sexuality is much more regulated and regarded with much more suspicion, the onus of proof is on the victim, and the attitudes of those in the police and legal sphere is actively hostile. The view that women bring rape upon themselves by veering away from good behaviour - by walking around unprotected in public, by dressing in such a way that a man might feel invited, by entering traditionally masculine territories (evening entertainments such as bars and clubs) - is still present in our society. But it is much more prevalent in Indian culture.
This confluence of factors makes the Indian situation appear much, much worse than in the Uk or the US. But I'm really not so sure that it is. It is different, certainly. And perhaps the extremes are more extreme. Except...are they really? How many cases have we seen in recent years of men abducting young women and girls and keeping them as captive playthings for decades?
Rape and sexual violence of women and children is endemic in human society.
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