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Home, Workplace, Streets: In Delhi, No Place Is Safe For Women

Home, Workplace, Streets: In Delhi, No Place Is Safe For Women
32-year-old Shiv Kumar Yadav, center, a driver from the international taxi-booking service Uber, is surrounded by police as he is brought out after being produced in a court in New Delhi, India, Monday, Dec. 8, 2014. The court ordered Yadav be held for three days for police questioning over allegations that he raped a finance company employee after being hired to ferry her home from a dinner engagement on Friday night. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
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32-year-old Shiv Kumar Yadav, center, a driver from the international taxi-booking service Uber, is surrounded by police as he is brought out after being produced in a court in New Delhi, India, Monday, Dec. 8, 2014. The court ordered Yadav be held for three days for police questioning over allegations that he raped a finance company employee after being hired to ferry her home from a dinner engagement on Friday night. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

The Uber rape case shows that even an expensive air-conditioned cab can be unsafe for women in Delhi.

But where in Delhi can a woman feel safe? Literally nowhere.

From offices to homes to public transport, women have been assaulted and raped at various locations, often with impunity. In India, where 93 women are raped everyday, Delhi stands out as the rape capital.

It sounds chilling, but it's true. There is hardly a place in Delhi where a woman hasn't been raped. The brutal gang rape of a woman in a moving bus on December 16, 2012 spurred the city's people to protest and demand action. The government responded by making rape a capital punishment, and broadening the definition of rape. But activists say much more needs to be done to combat the underlying causes of rape, such as low conviction rate, insensitive police force and social stigma associated with rape.

Here's a brief list of locations where girls have been abducted and raped in Delhi in recent years:

Near Gurudwara, at Dhaula Kuan in 2010. A woman returning from work was abducted behind a gurudwara, and then raped.

Upscale localities are not safe either. A 17-year old girl was raped in Safdarjung Enclave in 2013.

In The Bus: A young woman was raped in a moving bus and then left for dead. Previous rape incidents didn't lead to protests on this scale but this time the public was moved by the sheer brutality of the event. Large crowds protested, and demanded speedy justice. The government amended archaic laws to make rape a capital offence and broadened the definition of the crime.

Outside a Pub: In March 2012, a young woman was abducted when she was standing outside a pub where she worked. She was raped.

In a hospital: One of the most brutal incidents in 2003, where a 22- year old woman was raped by a ward boy.

Inside the house: Earlier this year, a girl staying in a rented apartment in Munirka was raped by the landlord's son.

In the gym: In 2011, a gym trainer was raped by the manager of the gym and his friend.

You would imagine workplaces were safe. Not in Delhi. A businesswoman was raped inside her office in a mall in Pitampura.

The last incident was in 2013, nearly a year after the Nirbhaya case. And now the Uber rape incident is another proof that making rape a capital punishment is not preventing rapes.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.