India rape cases renew anger over women's safety

A series of rape cases in India has renewed public anger over women's safety, with students marching in New Delhi after authorities said three men posing as police officers allegedly gang-raped a 17-year-old girl in a public park on Monday.

Hundreds of students marched through the capital on Wednesday, demanding stronger safety measures. The case has drawn comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus, which led to nationwide protests and tougher laws.

India recorded an average of 80 rape cases per day in 2024, according to the latest official data cited by AFP. That compares with around 68 per day in 2012, before the stronger laws were introduced.

Recent cases in Delhi also include the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl whose body was found by police in a decomposed state, and the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl by a bus driver and conductor who had offered her a lift during heavy rain. A video that surfaced this month showed a teenage girl being sexually assaulted in Bihar.

Campaigners and lawyers said the legal reforms have not been enough. Women's rights activist Yogita Bhayana said the deeper problem was social attitudes that blame or police women. Criminal lawyer Shilpi Jain said the problem was not the law but overstretched police, judges and courts.

Official data showed India's conviction rate for rape has stayed around a quarter of cases that make it to trial. Less than 10 percent of more than 200,000 rape cases before the courts in 2024 were completed.