– Unable or unwilling to counter rape? –
Police said a Malaysian woman, 30, was raped in a car last Thursday in the western state of Rajasthan after a man, whom she had met to discuss business projects, drugged her – the latest in a series of sex attacks on foreigners in India.
“As she came to us, we rounded up the accused and placed him under arrest. We have seized his car and also recovered a pistol from the vehicle,” Amandeep Singh, a senior state police official, told AFP on Sunday.
Earlier this year, a Danish tourist was gang-raped at knifepoint after losing her way in central Delhi.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has faced severe criticism for his perceived insensitivity over the attacks on the low-caste girls in his state, who were found hanging from a mango tree after being sexually assaulted multiple times.
Yadav’s father Mulayam Singh – leader of the Samajwadi Party – was also the target of public anger in April when he told an election rally that he opposed the recently introduced death penalty for gang-rapists, saying “boys make mistakes”.
Women’s groups have slammed the comments as evidence that politicians were unable to stem sexual violence because they lacked respect for India’s women and were ignorant of the issues.
Politicians also came under fire after the fatal gang-rape in Delhi in 2012, a crime that angered the nation and shone a global spotlight on India’s treatment of women.
Several politicians have sought to blame tight jeans, short skirts and other Western influences for the country’s rise in rapes, while the head of a village council pointed to chowmein which he claimed led to hormone imbalances among men.
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