NCW rejects report on India being the most dangerous country for women

NEWDELHI: The National Commission for Women, an autonomous body under the Union women and child development ministry, on Tuesday rejected the findings of the survey conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation that said India is the world’s most dangerous country for women in the world.

In a survey of about 550 experts on women’s issues, India has been ranked as the world’s most dangerous country for women, followed by war-torn Afghanistan and Syria, due to high risk of sexual violence.

National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma said the sample size is too small and cannot be representative of the entire country. Without naming any specific country, Sharma said, “Women are very aware in India of issues and there is no way that we could be ranked number 1 in such a survey. The countries that have been ranked after India have women who are not even allowed to speak in public.”

Calling the survey report “a shame”, Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Taking to Twitter, he also poked fun at Modi’s fitness video and tagged the news on survey report.

“While our PM tiptoes around his garden making yoga videos, India leads Afghanistan, Syria and Saudi Arabia in rape and violence against women!” Gandhi tweeted, referring to a video that Modi posted in May, accepting a fitness challenge.

“What a shame for our country!” said the Congress party president.

Experts said India moving to the top of poll showed not enough was being done to tackle the dangers faced by women more than five years after the rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi made violence against women a national priority.

“Human life cannot become a political debate. The government needs to be more involved in educating people,” said Wesley Menezes, an independent lawyer who fights human trafficking and domestic violence cases.