Rape has become “the new normal” in India, and it is being driven by readily-available pornography, an Indian journalist has said.
Statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau show that on average a woman is raped every six hours in India.
Mari Marcel Thekaekara hit out at the inactivity of the country’s Supreme Court, which recently lamented: “What is to be done? Girls and women are getting raped left, right and centre”.
‘Endless, violent porn’
Veteran journalist Thekaekara explained the root of the problems, saying: “Boys as young as 10 download pornography from mobile phone shops for as little as 10 rupees (12p).
“The combination of endless, violent porn videos and alcohol appears to be a lethal trigger for many rapes in India”.
Children’s rights activist Enakshi Ganguly Thukral told Thekaekara: “Society is being sexualised, there is sexual content everywhere, in films and music. Rampant, vicious porn is easily available to children.
“Middle-class families may monitor what their kids watch, but uneducated and illiterate people haven’t a clue about what their kids see on their phones.”
‘Driver of rape’
Thekaekara said she and other human rights activists are “increasingly sick of liberals fighting for freedom to watch violent, sadistic porn”.
One human rights defender told her: “It’s hard to stomach glib sermons on the right to freedom to use a potential ‘driver of rape’ when faced with a wounded, bleeding raped woman or child.”
She concluded it is time for the Indian government “to look seriously at how we can clamp down on porn”.