Why don't women report rapes to the police?

Haha. Rape is physically and mentally traumatic for victims. (I have one male friend who argues it shouldn't be - he says one should treat it as just another physical assault.) Now, let us focus here on the situation in India.

One: Honour. Often family honour, as rapists are often known to the victim or are often a family member/ relative. So the matter is hushed up.

Two: Police. Police is the reason.

Have you ever taken a good look at the average Indian policeman? have you ever been to a police station?

A police station is an intimidating place. The cultural sophistication of the average policeman in India is pretty much that of the average roadside thug. Your average policeman hardly knows how to talk politely, is barely educated, is uncouth, brash and rude. Is this the paragon of sensitivity a victim of rape will run to? Add to this the rising number of custodial rapes which every one knows about. People will turn to a policeman only when they are desperate. Educated, rich people are abused by the police in India routinely and they have to call upon their networks and call upon little netas to get the policemen to treat them with some consideration.

Expect a policeman to humiliate a rape victim, turn her back, discourage her, be foul-mouthed or maybe rape her in turn. The last may happen very rarely, but it is generally accepted in India that the Indian policeman is a rowdy who has the law to back him. The better off IPS and higher ranks of policemen are often double-faced. In their parties or social circles, they are the paragons of virtue while when in their element, they are as dangerous as the rest of their lower rung colleagues. (There are real reasons why the Indian policeman is a shame to the country. Many of them are of the society's own making. I will write about it in the near future.)

Even if a rape victim passes this hurdle, what remains is the great Indian judicial system. The system offers the perfect means for an accused rapist to wear out the victim. Murder trials last for decades in India. Often, verdicts are produced only after the deaths of the accused or complainant. Just what is the point of filing a case when everything - society, family, police, legal seems to throw hurdles in your path? Isn't it normal for someone to just want to try and forget the rape and get on with it