Public outrage fades fast despite rising violence against women in India

Violence against women in India is not accidental or random. It is systematic, patterned, and often tolerated through social customs, silence, and delayed legal action. Over time, such violence has become so routine that society barely reacts. Cases that once shocked people now feel ordinary, exposing a culture that diminishes and controls women instead of protecting them.

Every week, headlines report horrifying crimes: women burned alive over dowry, daughters shot by their fathers, young professionals attacked by husbands, and doctors assaulted inside hospitals. In 2022 alone, India recorded over 4.45 lakh crimes against women. That means roughly one violent incident every 72 seconds. Dowry deaths alone averaged nearly 18 per day, yet the outrage rarely lasts. The problem is not individuals but a system that views women’s suffering as normal.

Dowry, male fragility, and societal indifference

Dowry-related violence illustrates how women’s lives are treated as conditional and transactional. Take the case of Nikki Bhati in Greater Noida, dragged and set on fire by her in-laws in front of her six-year-old son. Her father reported years of harassment over dowry demands—even when all demands were met, the violence continued. Nikki’s husband casually called it a “marital quarrel,” showing how normalized such brutality has become.

Dowry is no longer a relic of the past. It functions as an entitlement, where women are punished not for what they fail to give but simply for existing. Even compliance offers no protection. Such attitudes teach men that violence is acceptable, and women that resistance is futile.

Violence also targets women who claim independence or public visibility. National-level tennis player Radhika Yadav was shot by her father, upset over her career and social media activity. Cases like hers reveal how male aggression is excused, while women’s independence is blamed for triggering violence. Experts note that society often rationalizes male violence as “normal behavior,” while women are expected to endure it silently.

Brutality behind closed doors continues unchecked. Swathi in Hyderabad was killed by her husband while five months pregnant, and Shraddha Walkar in Delhi was strangled and dismembered by her live-in partner, despite repeated warnings to friends and police. These cases highlight how institutions fail to act until it’s too late. Society trivializes women’s suffering while sensationalizing crimes involving men, creating an uneven hierarchy of outrage.

The murder of Raja Raghuvanshi during his honeymoon and the subsequent media attention on his wife’s alleged role demonstrate another problem. Society often treats stories of male victimhood as cautionary and dramatic, while ongoing violence against women remains marginalized. Similarly, social media sensationalized the death of Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput, turning his murder into viral content, while women’s deaths and abuse barely register beyond brief headlines.

Experts say this is not just media bias but reflects deeply embedded societal narratives. Women are expected to endure, and their pain is normalized, while men’s suffering is treated as exceptional. This gendered empathy gap ensures that violence against women continues with little accountability, reinforcing patriarchal norms.

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Breaking the cycle of indifference

The cases of Nikki, Radhika, Swathi, Shraddha, and even everyday encounters with dowry demands are not anomalies. They are part of a persistent pattern: entitlement legitimized through dowry, fragile masculinities erupting into violence, and societal indifference to women’s suffering. Violence against women is woven into the social fabric, thriving in silence, and normalized by custom and culture.

Change requires more than laws or temporary outrage. It demands a societal reckoning: refusing to accept violence as ordinary, challenging patriarchal norms, holding perpetrators accountable, and ensuring women’s safety and equality. Until society confronts these deep-rooted attitudes, indifference will continue, and women will remain at risk.

Real reform is not just legal; it is cultural. It requires education, awareness, and empathy, along with effective enforcement of existing laws. Only then can India move from routine acceptance of violence against women to meaningful protection and justice. Anything less is complicity.