Caste, poverty and patriarchal society prejudices in India play a major role in this abuse, say Catholic Church officials.

Posted on May 10, 2016, 6:08 PM New Delhi (UCAN): 

Catholic leaders in India are calling for a change in mindset to counter discrimination and prevent crimes against women.
"Most mothers in India face discrimination when they are small but adopt the same attitude toward their girls when they become mothers," said Sister Talisha Nadukudiyil, secretary of the Indian Catholic bishop’s office for women.
Moreover, Indian families are structured in a way that the male child is given preference and women are subjected to sexual violence, she told ucanews.com.
The nun was speaking against the backdrop of the rape and brutal murder of a 29-year-old Dalit woman on April 28 in Kerala state. Police are yet to arrest anyone for the crime.
The crime is similar to the rape and murder of a 21-year-old medical student in New Delhi three years ago that grabbed international headlines and strong protests across the country, forcing the government to come up with stricter laws against rape and sexual violence.
"It appears ironical that a woman is taunted, molested and abused at every stage in life and she is not safe even in her own house. This is especially true of women from economically and socially backward sections," Sister Nadukudiyil said.
She said that even though Catholic bishops’ office for women has been training women coordinators and secretaries in gender awareness and sensitization programs across the country, "the real change has to come within families."
"Boys need to be brought up to respect women and girls in the family. We have to shed this patriarchal mindset," she added.
The news of the incident in Kerala has created shock waves across the country as it happened in India’s only state that boasts a 100 percent literacy rate.
"Being literate does not mean that people are educated," Father Z. Devasagayaraj, secretary of the Indian Catholic bishops' commission for Dalit and indigenous people, told ucanews.com.
Caste, poverty and the male-dominated mindset of the people played a major role in this crime, he said.
"The girl was Dalit and poor. Nobody is bothered about her or her family," he said.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, in 2014 there were 337,922 reports of abuse against women — ranging from rape, assault to domestic violence. The numbers showed a 9 percent increase from the previous year.
The number of rapes in India also rose by 9 percent to 33,707 in 2014 and that 86 percent of these rapes were committed by close family members and those known to the victims. The report said 38 percent of the rape victims were under 18 years of age.
Source: UCAN