An Unfortunate Event
Posted by Moira Fratantuono on Monday, April 15, 2013
Yesterday saw my first bout of travel-related gastro-intestinal malfunction, and it was not fun. I spent the majority of the day laying in bed, counting the minutes until the body aches, waves of nausea, and trips to the bathroom would run their course. Today is much better, although I am still not quite back to my usual self. Sadly, this is not the 'unfortunate event' that this entry's title refers to, but illness did delay me from writing about it sooner:
I expected to be assailed by extreme poverty, children begging, unpleasant smells, pollution, piles of trash, and (at times) horrible sanitation - and all of these have delivered. However, a few days ago, as I was wandering around the Delhi train station/Pahar Ganj area, I happened upon something I was not prepared for - a person, passed out and lying in the sidewalk. This in and of itself is disturbing, considering the sun's intensity and heat, though not entirely unexpected. What made it horrific was that the individual was a female; her pants were pulled down to her knees, and her shirt was pulled up to reveal her chest. Her genitals were completely exposed, which is completely unheard of in a county where many women still wear full-length skirts and pants. Given the increased number of rapes reported in Delhi, I was left to draw few conclusions. When I initially walked past, she was passed out, but when I walked by again two minutes later, en route to a nearby police station, she was mumbling and fumbling with a cell phone.
In Baltimore, I would have known how to 'read' this situation, and I would have sprung into action much more quickly, but in India, there are so many unknowns. My initial reaction was to try and wake her up or try to cover her with my scarf, but given that I don't speak Hindi, and that mental health issues could be a factor, I decided against it. In the US, one would obviously contact the police immediately. However, Indian police have a less-than-stellar reputation. They are often corrupt, jail people unjustly to elicit bribes, or, in instances of rape/sexual abuse, when a woman comes forward to report a crime, she runs the risk of being raped again by the police. Add to this the social stigma that can come from being a rape survivor (in some communities it can be very difficult for families of known victims to arrange a marriage). These are two reasons why so many rapes in India go unreported, and why this winter's violent gang rape and subsequent protests were noteworthy - they brought the issue to the forefront of Indian consciousness.
After weighing the options, I decided I had no choice but to report her situation to the police, in the hopes that they would not take advantage of her vulnerability. Upon arriving at the police station, I was confronted by new questions: I described where she was, but given their reputation, I didn't have faith that the officers would actually pursue my report and assist her. I've read many an anecdote of police looking the other way, or only investigating only if they are bribed. If the crime is reported by someone already marginalized by society, they won't pursue the investigation.
I have also read accounts detailing why so many Indians are reticent to report things to the police - rather than simply take your report, witnesses or bystanders get pulled into the investigation and hence sometimes also have to pay bribes, etc. The system is often wrought with injustice for all citizens, regardless of direct involvement in an incident. This explains why no one else walking past did so much as turn their head...they know better than to get involved, and it becomes a matter of survival.
As a foreigner, I had slightly more liberty than this woman's compatriots - I have a certain level of immunity from the police, yet another reason why I decided to approach them. However, again, I knew that I could not get overly involved - accompanying them or following up to see if they had helped her, was putting myself at risk. And so, I am left wondering what happened to her initially, and if/how they assisted her. My assumption is that she was abused, because this is such an uncommon way for anyone here to behave, and my hope is that she found help in the wake of my report.
I expected to be assailed by extreme poverty, children begging, unpleasant smells, pollution, piles of trash, and (at times) horrible sanitation - and all of these have delivered. However, a few days ago, as I was wandering around the Delhi train station/Pahar Ganj area, I happened upon something I was not prepared for - a person, passed out and lying in the sidewalk. This in and of itself is disturbing, considering the sun's intensity and heat, though not entirely unexpected. What made it horrific was that the individual was a female; her pants were pulled down to her knees, and her shirt was pulled up to reveal her chest. Her genitals were completely exposed, which is completely unheard of in a county where many women still wear full-length skirts and pants. Given the increased number of rapes reported in Delhi, I was left to draw few conclusions. When I initially walked past, she was passed out, but when I walked by again two minutes later, en route to a nearby police station, she was mumbling and fumbling with a cell phone.
In Baltimore, I would have known how to 'read' this situation, and I would have sprung into action much more quickly, but in India, there are so many unknowns. My initial reaction was to try and wake her up or try to cover her with my scarf, but given that I don't speak Hindi, and that mental health issues could be a factor, I decided against it. In the US, one would obviously contact the police immediately. However, Indian police have a less-than-stellar reputation. They are often corrupt, jail people unjustly to elicit bribes, or, in instances of rape/sexual abuse, when a woman comes forward to report a crime, she runs the risk of being raped again by the police. Add to this the social stigma that can come from being a rape survivor (in some communities it can be very difficult for families of known victims to arrange a marriage). These are two reasons why so many rapes in India go unreported, and why this winter's violent gang rape and subsequent protests were noteworthy - they brought the issue to the forefront of Indian consciousness.
After weighing the options, I decided I had no choice but to report her situation to the police, in the hopes that they would not take advantage of her vulnerability. Upon arriving at the police station, I was confronted by new questions: I described where she was, but given their reputation, I didn't have faith that the officers would actually pursue my report and assist her. I've read many an anecdote of police looking the other way, or only investigating only if they are bribed. If the crime is reported by someone already marginalized by society, they won't pursue the investigation.
I have also read accounts detailing why so many Indians are reticent to report things to the police - rather than simply take your report, witnesses or bystanders get pulled into the investigation and hence sometimes also have to pay bribes, etc. The system is often wrought with injustice for all citizens, regardless of direct involvement in an incident. This explains why no one else walking past did so much as turn their head...they know better than to get involved, and it becomes a matter of survival.
As a foreigner, I had slightly more liberty than this woman's compatriots - I have a certain level of immunity from the police, yet another reason why I decided to approach them. However, again, I knew that I could not get overly involved - accompanying them or following up to see if they had helped her, was putting myself at risk. And so, I am left wondering what happened to her initially, and if/how they assisted her. My assumption is that she was abused, because this is such an uncommon way for anyone here to behave, and my hope is that she found help in the wake of my report.
