Blaming western Culture for India's Problems won't prevent sexual Crimes

In the past weeks many politicians and other people who were in some way important have given their opinion on the Delhi rape case and the reasons for such crimes. It seems to be in fashion, at least among conservative and traditionalist people in India, that the main culprit is the influence of the west. They are quick in blaming western culture for anything bad that happens in India. In my opinion that is a fully unjustified accusation – and just a way to distract from problems within your own culture and country.

The truth is that the situation here in India is much worse than in the west when it comes to safety, especially for women. I can tell you this from my own experience because I am living in both cultures. I was born and raised in India and have seen big parts of this country but for the past 12 years I have been living and working in western countries and have travelled extensively there, too. You won’t find as many rape cases and as many sexual crimes there. Here you can frequently read reports of rape in which the victims are in between two and 80 years old! If something like this happens in Germany, it is big and very shocking news which spread all over the country! There is just not as much cruel and horrible crime there as it is here. This you can read in statistics, too. My own experience and the main point I want to talk about however is not about figures, it is about the mindset and the attitude.

In the west, when a girl enters a bus, she can stand confidently in the middle of a crowd without getting groped. A young girl can sit safely in a train in the middle of the night. In many places she can walk home in areas where there is nobody out on the road and she won’t have to be afraid. It is not like this in India. You tell the women in your home to please come back before it gets dark and they will do because they cannot feel safe out in the roads. They don’t feel safe even in bright daylight!

I am neither admiring western culture nor do I want to put down Indian culture. I have written lots about the positive and negative of both cultures. I do not feel however that the blame on western culture is justified. Why don’t we see the qualities of qualities of western culture and import them here? Of course, crime happens there, too. Rape happens there, too. But the attitude towards women, the attitude towards crime itself, is very different in society in general.

Whatever I am writing about is only because i feel pain when I think about the state that my country is in. I love my country but these days I am not proud but ashamed. In what kind of society are we living? We call our country the most god-conscious and religious country? Is this how it shows? Whether it is politics, bureaucracy, the religious world or just a common man’s daily life – everywhere is corruption and crime. I want to address those who always talk about culture and religion: if you blame all India’s faults on western culture, you won’t find the solution. You need to look at the root from where problems arise and that is in the minds of people. As long as you don’t change the attitude of people in general, you won’t free India of rape.