National-level junior women's judoka gangraped in Gurgaon

Care to put a number on this?

Barbarity does not discriminate. Women across all facets of life in India are in danger of becoming sexual prey at some point in their lives. This is evidenced by the abominable gang rape of a national-level junior women’s judo player on Friday, September 4th in the Bilaspur area of Gurgaon.

According to reports, the 15-year-old was en route to school when she was abducted by 4 men and forced to consume sedative drugs. She was subsequently gang raped. Police have managed to apprehend one of the rapists, a BCA student who has confessed to the crime. The other three culprits are still at large.

A case was filed on September 7th at a women’s police station in Gurgaon. This incident hearkens back to May of this year when 4 young women athletes attempted suicide because they were harassed by their seniors. They ate a poisonous fruit and one of them had succumbed.

India is not known for being a safe place for women. Sprawling cities like Delhi and Gurgaon are looked at with a jaundiced eye for the crimes against women that are perpetrated there. The number of crimes against women in India has risen by 7.1 percent since 2010, while one-in-three rape victims are minors.

Incidents of harassment against women athletes are not infrequent. In 2010, all 31 members of the women’s national hockey team filed a combined charge of sexual harassment against then-coach, M.K. Kaushik. A senior official confirmed that demanding sexual favours in exchange for selection to squads is not uncommon and not limited to coaches. Even players and officials are not inculpable.