An open letter to PM Modi: addressing the crisis of GBV

I GREET you in the name of my Indian heritage and my Tamil linguistic identity. Your presence at the G20 summit coincided with the 16Sth anniversary of the arrival of indentured workers in South Africa.

- THIRUVERNTHREE GOVENDER

India’s deep history with South Africa is well known and so is the contribution of the Indian community to the development of this country.

I wish to bring to your attention an urgent matter that affects not only women in South Africa, but women globally: gender-based violence (GBV).

The scourge of GBV in South Africa is primarily focused on the annual 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children Campaign, which runs from November 25 to December 10.

Many women can walk away from abuse, but countless others cannot, due to financial dependence, emotional manipulation, fear, shame, cultural pressure and systemic inequality.

India is a civilisation that reveres the divine feminine especially during the 10 days of Navarathri when Goddess Shakti is worshipped as Durga, Luxmi and Saraswathi. Yet Indian women continue to face widespread violence, discrimination and inequality.

India’s national crime records reported over 445 000 cases of crimes against women in 2022, a 4% increase from the previous year.

Despite legal reforms after the 2012 Delhi gang rape case, in 2021 alone India registered 31 677 rape cases. These numbers represent real women whose lives, dreams and futures were stolen.

Even today, female infanticide continues in pockets of India.

As recently as September 2024, BBC investigations showed midwives confessing to decades of killing newborn girls at the instruction of men in the families of those baby girls. This is a painful reminder that ancient misogyny still survives in modern India.

The tragic case of Shahzadi Khan, a baby carer from Uttar Pradesh who was sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates after reportedly being forced to confess for the death of a baby who received the incorrect vaccine that day, also raises questions about India’s ability to protect its most vulnerable citizens abroad, particularly poor Indian migrant women.