As another year drew to a close, the streets of India witnessed yet another horrific act of violence, starkly reminding the nation of the persistent crisis surrounding women's safety. In Faridabad, a young woman endured a brutal two-hour-long rape inside a moving car before being thrown out mercilessly. This incident, occurring on December 31, 2025, amplifies a familiar shock—one that deepens with each act of brutality and the accompanying impunity that seems to follow, month after month, year after year.
The Chasm Between Societal Discourse and Institutional Action
Rape is fundamentally an exercise of power and a violent act of dehumanization, reducing a person to a mere object. While public discourse in India is increasingly filled with conversations on gender equality, consent, and empowerment—visible across social media reels and campaigns—this awareness fails to translate into institutional accountability. There exists a glaring contradiction where society speaks the language of equality, but the state's mechanisms appear stubbornly resistant to listening.
The case forces a grim reflection on why it consistently requires massive public protests, as seen in the aftermath of Ankita Bhandari's murder, to force the system to take notice and jail the accused. Similarly, the chilling effect of witnessing Bilkis Bano's rapists being welcomed back into society or powerful figures like Kuldeep Sengar securing interim bail sends a dangerous message of institutional complicity.
A Predictable Pattern of Systemic Failure
What remains most striking across these cases is not just the individual perpetrator's brutality but the structural predictability of how institutions fail survivors. The pathway to justice is routinely marred by a series of systemic breakdowns:
- Delayed FIR registrations that crucial evidence and erode a case's foundation.
- Compromised investigations that lack rigor or are influenced by power dynamics.
- Hostile environments for survivors during legal proceedings.
- Painfully slow trials in overburdened courts.
- Abysmally low conviction rates that offer little deterrence.
This collective failure broadcasts a message of reassurance to perpetrators rather than one of deterrence. Despite laws, amendments, fast-track courts, helplines, and campaigns, the lived reality for women is dominated by fear, distrust, and exhaustion. Safety is framed as an individual responsibility, placing the onus on women to restrict their lives.
When Justice Itself Perpetuates Violence
The violence does not conclude with the criminal act; it is prolonged and compounded by systemic neglect. When power shields power, and when justice only materializes after relentless public pressure, the trauma for survivors is extended indefinitely. The 2012 Delhi gang-rape case, while leading to punishment for the perpetrators, did not fundamentally alter the ecosystem of impunity and accountability.
The Faridabad incident is not an aberration. It is a grim indicator of a recurring national horror. True change will remain elusive until institutions—the police, the judiciary, and the executive—consistently and unequivocally side with survivors and the principles of justice, rather than with the powerful or the circumstances. Until then, such horrors will continue to return to haunt India's streets, year after year.
The analysis draws upon perspectives highlighted by Shivani Nag, who teaches at Ambedkar University.
