THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
The recent sexual assault of two Australian women cricketers in Madhya Pradesh has once again brought attention to a serious problem in India. On October 23, 2025, these athletes were walking from their hotel to a nearby cafe when a man on a motorcycle stalked and inappropriately touched one of them. While police quickly arrested the accused, this incident reveals much deeper issues about women’s safety in India.
A Pattern of Violence
This was not an isolated incident. India has a troubling record when it comes to sexual violence against women. Despite stronger laws passed after the horrific 2012 Delhi gang rape case, women continue to face harassment, assault, and rape at alarming rates. The fact that even foreign athletes with security protocols were targeted shows how widespread the problem is.
Many factors contribute to this crisis. Deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes in society often blame victims rather than perpetrators. The police force is understaffed and sometimes holds these same attitudes, making women reluctant to report crimes. When cases are reported, India’s court system is so backlogged that trials can take years. Conviction rates remain low, around 27-30% for rape cases, which means there is little deterrent effect.
The majority of sexual assaults are never reported at all. Women fear social stigma, retaliation from attackers, and humiliation from authorities. This silence allows the problem to continue unchecked.
The Plight of Dalit Women
While all women in India face risks, Dalit women and girls suffer the worst. They experience what experts call “double marginalization” – discrimination based on both their gender and their caste.
Dalit women face disproportionately high rates of sexual violence. Throughout history, upper-caste men have used sexual assault against Dalit women as a tool to enforce caste hierarchies and terrorize Dalit communities. This violence is often about power and domination, not just individual crime.
When Dalit women try to seek justice, they face barriers that other women do not. Police may refuse to register their complaints or conduct weak investigations, especially when the accused come from dominant castes. Some officers hold casteist attitudes themselves and do not take Dalit women’s reports seriously. Families are often pressured to drop cases or accept “settlements” to avoid further violence.
Dalit communities often live in poverty and depend economically on upper-caste employers and landowners. Speaking out can mean losing livelihoods, facing social boycott, or experiencing more violence. The social stigma of sexual assault hits Dalit women even harder because they have fewer support systems.
India has laws meant to protect Dalits, including the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. However, conviction rates under this law remain extremely low, often below 30%. Cases like the 2020 Hathras incident, where a Dalit woman was gang-raped and authorities were accused of covering it up, show how the system can work against survivors rather than for them.
A System That Fails
The harsh truth is that Dalit women have very little chance of getting justice. When they report sexual violence, they may face intimidation from the accused and their families, pressure from local power structures, denial of medical evidence, character assassination amplified by caste prejudice, economic retaliation against their families, and sometimes further violence.
The system that should protect them often perpetuates their oppression instead. Police, courts, and social structures all reflect the same caste and gender prejudices that enabled the violence in the first place.
The Need for Change
The assault on the Australian cricketers will likely result in quick action and justice because they are foreign nationals and the incident received international attention. But for Indian women, especially Dalit women, this kind of swift response is rare.
Real change requires more than better laws on paper. It demands transformation of deeply entrenched attitudes about gender and caste. It needs a police force and judiciary that treat all women’s complaints with seriousness and respect. It requires economic and social support for survivors who come forward. Most fundamentally, it demands that Indian society confront the patriarchal and casteist structures that enable this violence.
Activists and women’s organizations continue fighting for these changes despite enormous obstacles. But until India addresses both gender inequality and caste discrimination together, millions of women—especially Dalit women—will continue to live without safety or access to justice.
The sexual assault of two foreign athletes in broad daylight is shocking. But it should remind us of the countless Indian women, particularly those from marginalized communities, who face such violence every day with little hope of justice or protection. Their voices deserve to be heard, and their safety must become a national priority.
References
1.https://www.thequint.com/sports/cricket/two-australia-female-cricketers-molested-stalked-touched-inappropriately-indore-icc-womens-world-cup
2.https://www.freepressjournal.in/sports/i-am-deeply-distressed-mpca-president-mahanaaryaman-scindia-expresses-concern-over-indore-molestation-incident-involving-2-australian-cricketers
3.https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/80-of-sexual-violence-against-dalit-women-committed-by-dominant-caste-men-report
