Sexual Violence: A Global Pandemic/1st to 7th September 2018

Sexual violence is a global pandemic. One in three women experiences sexual or physical violence – most likely from their intimate partner, according to a report from the World Health Organization. There is an urgent need to increase sensitization regarding sexual violence and the awareness of consent and sexual violence amongst persons at large. In this series, we examine sexual violence and related issues that have come up in the news, on a weekly basis, published every Saturday. This is an attempt to improve awareness regarding incidents of sexual violence and related matters, so that we, as a society can take steps towards collective action to reduce its incidence. It is an effort to ensure that we acknowledge the rampant sexual violence that exists, lest we forget.

This issue looks at news from 1st to 7th September 2018.

1.Five arrested over gang rape and murder of 9-year-old girl in Jammu-Kashmir

The girl was gang raped, strangled, her head wounded with an ax and her eyes gouged out by her 14-year-old stepbrother and two of his friends.The stepmother is accused of strangling the girl while her son hit the child on the head with an axe.

His friend brought vehicle battery acid from home and sprinkled it on the body while another friend gouged out her eyes before dumping the corpse in the bushes.

2. Two Malaysian women convicted of attempting to have lesbian sex in a car have been caned in a religious court.

The Muslim women, aged 22 and 32, were each caned six times in the Sharia High Court in the state of Terengganu. The caning was witnessed by more than 100 people, according to local news outlet The Star.

A member of the Terengganu state executive council, Satiful Bahri Mamat, defended the punishment, telling the agency it had not been intended to “torture or injure” and had been carried out in public to “serve as a lesson to society”.

3. Egyptian bus driver publicly shamed after sexually harassing woman

An Egyptian bus driver who allegedly sexually harassed one of his female passengers was publicly shamed by people who caught him in the act. Several tweeps, some of whom claimed they were at the scene, wrote that the man had harassed the passenger after she was left alone on his bus.When passersby heard her pleas for help, they attacked and cornered the man, publicly shamed him, and didn’t let him go until police came and arrested him.

4. Two thirds of young girls have been sexually harassed in public, survey shows

Two thirds of girls and women aged 14 to 21 have been sexually harassed in public, according to a survey. The poll by charity Plan International UK examined the exposure of young females to conduct including catcalling, groping and upskirting. More than 1,000 girls and women were asked about their experiences in public settings, for instance when they are in the street, on transport, travelling to school or work, or in a park, bar or club. Overall, 66 per cent said they had experienced unwanted sexual attention or sexual or physical contact in a public place.

5. Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman says she was sexually harassed at school

Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman has said she was sexually harassed while she was a pupil at an one of Britain’s top private schools.

The 44-year-old recalled that when she 16, she was sitting in the canteen at Surrey’s Charterhouse school when a boy unzipped his trousers and forced her to touch him.

This article was first published on Safecity, as a part of the blogging team by Blessy Varghese.