How news reports normalise sexual violence in rural India
By downplaying crimes and ignoring social contexts, newspapers are losing an opportunity to effect change
Jharkhand is one of the most rural states in India — 75.95% of the people live away from urban centres and the state is known for its tribal populations and the ongoing Naxalite movement. Many households still do not have electricity. In this context, what is the priority accorded to sexual violence against women, by the local communities and the news media?
When I lived in Jharkhand, I heard plenty of stories about sexual assault — but in the form of gossip, whispered about in households and community gatherings. Sexual violence was acknowledged but it was never really seen as an issue. From the conversations I overheard, it was easy to assume that these crimes that everyone knew about were also mostly domestic/acquaintance rape or assault cases and were not reported.
Over the past fortnight or so, I have been reading the Jamshedpur edition of the Hindustan Dainik, with the aim of gaining greater perspective on sexual violence and how it is covered by the news media in a predominantly rural state like Jharkhand. This Hindi daily’s coverage of rape and sexual assault has been underwhelming at best, qualitatively as well as quantitatively, which to me serves as a barometer for how such crimes are treated in the state. While we cannot generalise, from my reading of other national and regional newspapers, I would say the Dainik’s coverage is possibly indicative of the coverage accorded by other news outlets to rape and sexual assault in rural India.
1. The victim’s ‘honour’ and shame are frequently invoked
A story regarding a ‘promiscuous video’ of a woman shared online without her consent was headlined ‘Women’s honour under threat in the city’ (translated). The story was accompanied by an illustration of a weeping woman. While the story tries to shame the perpetrator, it also places responsibility on the victim for not upholding her own honour. There is an argument to be made that placing honour in women’s bodies only furthers a system of sexual violence and harassment.
Often, in cities like Jamshedpur (where I grew up), women are told to protect themselves by somehow making themselves less noticeable to men and by not having a social media presence. Their movements, clothing and demeanour are highly policed since they are seen as guardians of societal and familial honour. Not surprisingly, in many news media reports, the victim’s honour is discussed more than the crime that the perpetrator has committed.
2. The number of stories don’t match the number of reported crimes
State police data show that Jharkhand has a high and increasing rate of sexual violence (this does not reflect unreported incidents) — the number of registered rape cases were 1,122, 1,198, 1,146 and 1,335 in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively . However, the newspapers do not seem to reflect these numbers. In my 15-day reading of the Dainik’s print edition, I found only six cases related to rape or sexual violence.
3. Most rape reports are tucked away in the side columns of the inside pages
Between June 1 and 15, only one report made it to the front page. Most others were relegated to pages 14–16, and given a bare minimum of column inches.
4. Brutality is normalised and stories rarely make it to national newspapers
The sexual assault reports in regional/rural newspapers are often about violent instances of rape (including of minors), murder, abduction, etc. When they happen in urban centres, such incidents often receive prominent coverage in national papers, but the Dainik reports these cases blandly in an easily missed corner of the newspaper — as if they are barely newsworthy.
4. There is little context provided and wider social issues are ignored
None of the stories invoke the possible role of the victim’s identity/class/caste/community in the crime. Sexual violence by security forces in tribal areas are frequent (see this report), and often not reported by victims due to lack of access to authorities, lack of knowledge about the laws around sexual violence, etc. But I am not convinced newspapers have so far taken the opportunity to explore this adequately with more features and contextualised reports.
Newspapers also fail to highlight the gaps in the system that either make it difficult to report rapes or to pursue justice. None of the reports I read were followed up with updates.
Further, journalists do not seem to take up a position of activism to address issues such as unreported rape cases, thus reneging on their duty to spread awareness, fulfil their ‘watchdog’ function, and effect social change.
