NEW DELHI: India is once again outraged after reports surfaced that a five-year-old girl was raped in Delhi. The crime has put the spotlight back on the treatment of women and girls in the country, which in recent months has sparked an international outcry. According to local reports, the girl was brutally raped and assaulted allegedly by her neighbor while being held captive and starved for two days. She also contracted an infection from foreign objects inserted in her body. Shocked and anguished at the sexual assault, President Pranab Mukherjee called for urgent introspection to identify causes behind repeated failure of society to ensure security of women and children. “I can't breath. This is shocking," mother of two young girls Amina told Bikyanews.com on Friday evening. “This country is going downhill for women and girls very fast. I am disgusted at this event and the lack of police response." It has also affected foreign tourism, especially women visitors to the country. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) says overall tourist arrivals are down 25 per cent year-on-year, with holidaymakers opting instead to visit other Asian countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. The fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old Indian student by six men on a bus in New Delhi in December sparked outrage at the country's treatment of women, and since then there have also been other widely reported attacks. A Swiss cyclist was gang-raped in Madhya Pradesh last month, while a South Korean tourist was allegedly drugged and raped in the same state in January by the son of the owner of a hotel where she was staying. Such incidents have “raised concerns about the safety of female travelers to the country," said DS Rawat, secretary general at ASSOCHAM, which surveyed 1,200 tour operators from different cities. Indian women have continued to express shock and outrage at the rising number of gang-rapes and assaults in the country, calling on the police and government to intervene. It means less tourists for a country that largely depends on tourism for its local industry and workforce. The government told Bikyanews.com that they plan on developing new strategies to curtail the rising violence against women, but nothing concrete has been revealed. And women are not coming to India as a result. BN
