India this time stands number Uno in the world for the wrong reasons of lack of safety and protection to women.
Thomson Reuters Foundation – the philanthropic arm of Reuters Media Company in its survey has ranked India as the most dangerous place because of its high incidences of sexual violence, lack of access to justice in rape cases, child marriage, female feticide and human trafficking.
The raking has once again sparked the debate across the country on women’s safety. Ironically the country has competed with Syria and Afghanistan for this infamous position and succeeded them.
The study had taken the opinions of 548 experts on women’s issues. According to the study, India had topped the list as the government has done too little to protect women since the controversial rape and murder of a young student at Delhi in a moving bus in December 2012, which prompted pervasive outrage across the country.
The critics differ the ranking and say that India is not much worse than war-stricken countries like Syria and Afghanistan, when it comes to women’s safety and protection.
As per the official statistics in India 38,947 rapes were reported in 2016. The rate of rape per 100,000 people in India remains far lower than some Western countries, including the US, which experts believe is in part due to years of fear and under reporting.