Mohan Bhagwat: Rapes occur in India, not in Bharat

Mohan Bhagwat falsely said that rape was more prevalent in urban areas of India, which are influenced by western values in 2013.

Mohan Bhagwat falsely said that rape was more prevalent in urban areas of India, which are influenced by western values in 2013.Former RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Jan. 4 ,2013, stirred a controversy with his remark that westernization in Indian cities was the reason behind increasing rape cases as the country was witnessing widespread protests over the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old Delhi woman in December 2012. Bhagwat, while addressing a gathering of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers in Assam's Silchar, said that such crimes (rapes) hardly take place in 'Bharat,' but they frequently occur in 'India,' the English name for the country which is also globally recognized.

Citing National Crime Records Bureau data from 2012, journalist Priya Virmani wrote for the Guardian that of the 24,923 rapes reported nationwide that year, only 3,035 were in large cities. "The number of reported rapes elsewhere in the country was more than seven times higher (despite some cases arguably going unreported) than the number of those reported in the main cities," the report said. Therefore, Bhagwat falsely attributed rising sexual crimes against women as an urban phenomenon.

According to the 2020 World Population Review data of rape statistics by country, it is estimated that approximately 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced sexual harassment in their life. South Africa has the highest rape rate in the world with 66,196 incidents per 100,000 people and the number of rape incidents in India per 100,000 citizens is 22,172. In 2019. India recorded an average of 87 rape cases daily.