Delhi gang rape convict blames victim: 'A decent girl won't roam around at night'

Published March 2, 2015
Indian activists belonging to various rights organisations hold placards while they stage a demonstration in Bangalore on Dec 21, 2012, condemning the recent gang rape in New Delhi. — Photo by AFP
Indian activists belonging to various rights organisations hold placards while they stage a demonstration in Bangalore on Dec 21, 2012, condemning the recent gang rape in New Delhi. — Photo by AFP

One of the convicted rapists in the Delhi gang rape case of 2012 made a shocking statement Sunday when he blamed the victim of the widely reported sexual assault during an interview with a documentary film maker.

According to The Guardian, Leslee Udwin, the maker of the documentary “India’s Daughter” had interviewed convicted rapist Mukesh Singh for her short film when he made the controversial statement.

Mukesh was quoted as saying “You can’t clap with one hand – it takes two hands. A decent girl won’t roam around at night. A girl is more responsible for rape than a boy…”

Premiering on BBC4 on International Women’s Day, the documentary is about the short life and brutal rape of a 23-year-old woman whose tragic end lent impetus to women's rights activists in India.

The woman, a 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist, and a male friend were lured onto a bus by five men and a teenager in 2012. The woman was then repeatedly raped and tortured with a metal bar. Her injuries were so severe that she died two weeks later in a Singapore Hospital.

She became a symbol of the dangers women face in a country where a rape is reported on average every 21 minutes and acid attacks and cases of molestation are common.

Mukesh went on to call the incident an “accident” and said that if the two had not fought back, they would not have savagely beaten her – an act which led to her demise two weeks later.

“She should just be silent and allow the rape. Then they would have dropped her off after assaulting her and only hit the boy.”

According to the rapist, the imposition of the death penalty will create an even more dangerous environment for women in India. “Before, they would rape and say, ‘Leave her, she won’t tell anyone.’ Now when they rape, especially the criminal types, they will just kill the girl.”

Mukesh Singh, the driver of the bus boarded by the deceased and her friend, denied involvement in the incident, although DNA evidence has been found against him. His brother, Ram Singh, hung himself in his prison cell just months after the case went to trial.

Opinion

Editorial

Close the gap
Updated 16 Jun, 2025

Close the gap

Our imbalanced scorecard in the main shows that power development and prosperity reflect the shallowness of political claims.
Fiscal malfeasance
16 Jun, 2025

Fiscal malfeasance

IT is galling that, even in these times of economic distress, when hardship has pushed millions of ordinary...
Rochdale conviction
16 Jun, 2025

Rochdale conviction

THE recent conviction of seven men in the Rochdale grooming gang case is a hard-won moment of justice. The men, ...
Deepening conflict
Updated 15 Jun, 2025

Deepening conflict

Some media reports say that the US had shipped hundreds of missiles to Israel before the attack on Iran.
Some strides
15 Jun, 2025

Some strides

THE PTI government in KP is not known for sound public service delivery in a province whose economy has been ...
Air India tragedy
15 Jun, 2025

Air India tragedy

THE black box of the ill-fated Air India flight AI171 has been recovered, and that should reveal in the coming days...