The reporting of sex crimes has increased nearly 30 percent since the Dec 16, 2012 gang-rape case, said Daniel Drache, professor of political science at York University, Canada, in a lecture in the city Monday.
Speaking at a lecture titled "Sex crimes reporting in the Indian Press", organised by Jamia Millia Islamia, Drache compared reporting of such crimes before and after the Dec 16 incident.
Drache, who is also associate director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, said the main problem India is facing is violence against women. He said the mass media could change the conscience of people.
The case of the gang-rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who was brutally sexually assaulted by six men, including a juvenile, in a moving bus Dec 16, 2012, has increased the sex crimes reporting in Indian media, Drache said. "Rape reporting increased nearly 30 percent after the Dec 16 gang-rape case, with this case taking between 10-20 percent of the share of rape stories, across varying storyline."
Drache, who is visiting professor at Jamia Millia Islamia, also said that the foreign media also covered the Dec 16 case extensively, and added that the media were becoming agents of transforming society. The academic pointed out that although sexual crimes have been happening in India and elsewhere, they are now getting highlighted, and people are now raising their voices against it.
After she was raped, the physiotherapy student and her male friend were stripped of clothing and thrown out of the vehicle to die by the roadside on the cold December night. The woman later died of grave intestinal injuries Dec 29 at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where she was airlifted for specialised treatment.
The trial court Sep 13 awarded the death sentence to Mukesh, 26, Akshay Thakur, 28, Pawan Gupta, 19, and Vinay Sharma, 20, convicted in the case, and referred the case to the high court for confirmation of their sentence.
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