A villager in southwestern India has developed the country's first online mapping platform that documents the multitude of abuses, rapes and murders committed daily against women there, to awaken people to the extent and horrors of such crimes.Despite strong laws, girls and women in largely patriarchal India face a barrage of threats including rape, dowry-related murder, forced marriage, domestic violence and human trafficking.
Construction engineer and former software developer Shemeer Padinzjharedil, 29, said he was shocked, and inspired, by a poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, which rated India as the fourth most dangerous place for women in the world. "I was so angry I thought I would prove them wrong. But after research, I found that it really is true. It's just that the Indian media is not portraying it with as much seriousness."
"There are lots of news reports about crimes against women, but there really is nowhere where they are documented. The stories just get archived and the woman or girl just becomes a statistic, a number, that matters to no one," he said. "On my platform, maps4aid, not only do you see the statistics, but you can read the stories, which really helps people understand the terrible things that happen to our women. I would say what I have mapped is just a small drop in the ocean", he said, adding that most cases are not even reported due to the shame and stigma that victims fear even from their own families.
"For the Indian girl, it starts when she is in the womb where she risks being aborted. When she is born, they abuse and rape her. When she grows, they force her into marriage where she is harassed and possibly killed for dowry," he said. "When you look at the bigger picture, it's a huge achievement for a girl in India to survive to adulthood at all."
Source: CRIN (Child Rights International Network)
