In my interactions with Indian migrant women in countries such as Japan and Germany, a typical theme arises: They really feel safer in these international locations than in India.

As an Indian girl, I’m happy with my nation’s various cultures and its emergence as a powerful economic force. However, I can’t ignore the persistent and deep-rooted drawback of violence towards girls that plagues my society.

In 2022, India recorded 445,256 instances of crimes towards girls, a 4% improve from the earlier yr, in response to its crime data bureau. That interprets to 51 crimes every hour — and these are simply those that had been reported. Rape instances made up 7% of the entire and different crimes included “husband or relative … subjecting (woman) to cruelty,” accounting for 31%, kidnapping and abduction, 19%, and “assault on … woman with intent to outrage her modesty,” 19%.