This teenage girl is a rapist’s nightmare
The rape suspects offered a $15,000 settlement if Bitiya's family would drop the case, bringing the money in cash to her home with its dirt floor. Bitiya had never seen so much cash — but scoffs that she wouldn't accept twice as much.
"I want them in jail," Bitiya says. "Then everyone watching will know that people can get punished for this."
Civil society scrutiny belatedly led to the arrest of four men, who were then released on bail.
The case has been dragging on since, and Bitiya's father died of a heart attack after one particularly brutal court hearing.
The family also fears that members of upper castes will kill Bitiya's 16-year-old brother, so he mostly stays home — which means he can't take jobs, leaving the family struggling to afford food.
"I never felt tempted," adds her grandfather.
Bitiya says she does not feel disgraced, because the dishonor lies in raping rather than in being raped.
And the resolve that she and her family display is having an impact.
The rape suspects had to sell land to pay bail, and everybody in the area now understands that raping girls may actually carry consequences.
So while there were many rapes in the village before Bitiya's, none are believed to have occurred since.
Madhavi Kuckreja, a longtime women's activist who is helping Bitiya, says the case reflects a measure of progress against sexual violence.
"There has been a breaking of the silence," Kuckreja said. "People are speaking up and filing cases."
Kuckreja notes that the cost of sexual violence is a paralyzing fear that affects all women and girls. Fearful parents "protect" daughters from sexual violence and boys in ways that impede the girls' ability to get an education, use the Internet or cellphones, or get a good job. For every girl who is raped, Kuckreja says, many thousands lose opportunities and mobility because of fear of such violence.
That holds back women, but also all of India. The International Monetary Fund says that India's economy is stunted by the lack of women in the formal economy.
In one village, I asked a large group of men about rape. They insisted that they honor women and deplore rape — and then added that the best solution after a rape is for the girl to be married to the rapist, to smooth over upset feelings.
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