India's rape epidemic: Will the US apply pressure to an ally

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/04/can-us-help-india-rape-epidemic/

Politicians across the country, responding to public pressure and
global outrage in the wake of the 2012 attack on the 23-year-old female
student and her male friend, promised they would modernize outdated
policies on women and violence.

Collectively, it looked like the country was moving toward change and
working hard to repair its global image. And for a while, it seemed to
work.

But in late May, the bodies of two teenage girls were found hanging
limply from a mango tree in their village in Uttar Pradesh. The girls,
14 and 15 years old, had been gang-raped. A week later, another case
surfaced. Like the others, the girl had been raped and asphyxiated. She
was found dead, hanging from a tree.

As the grisly cases start to emerge again, many are hoping the United
States and others will apply pressure to their Asian ally to renew the
fight against what is by any standard an epidemic of rape.

[unknown]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/04/can-us-help-india-rape-epidemic/

Politicians across the country, responding to public pressure and
global outrage in the wake of the 2012 attack on the 23-year-old female
student and her male friend, promised they would modernize outdated
policies on women and violence.

Collectively, it looked like the country was moving toward change and
working hard to repair its global image. And for a while, it seemed to
work.

But in late May, the bodies of two teenage girls were found hanging
limply from a mango tree in their village in Uttar Pradesh. The girls,
14 and 15 years old, had been gang-raped. A week later, another case
surfaced. Like the others, the girl had been raped and asphyxiated. She
was found dead, hanging from a tree.

As the grisly cases start to emerge again, many are hoping the United
States and others will apply pressure to their Asian ally to renew the
fight against what is by any standard an epidemic of rape.
"As a percentage of the population, the U.S. has more rapes than India."

It is acknowledged that the rate reported in india is grossly underreported
compared to many other countries. Women don't report it and police tend to
suppress even when reported.

Also what is reported as rape differs. A married woman can not be raped by
her husband even if the act is exactly that if he was not married to her.
Even if she should report it, a dalit woman would be told to go away by the
police. There is no report, there is no record.

Thus to compare is not meaningful. When india rises to the level and
quality of reporting then we can have a look.

The cases in question in india could not be suppressed nor hidden from news
media. It is as they say the tip of the iceberg. In the case of the two
girls hung the police tried to suppress it. They were dalit. The father
refused to give up and the police were shamed into at least investigating
it.