Fake rape accusations? Really?

It was an allguys beer bash I had just written a piece in another publication exploring why people everywhere seem to think of India as the worlds rape central when four other countries mdash South Africa Sweden UK and Wales and the USA mdash have higher numbers of reported rape Right said a feisty Heineken About time someone injected some reality into this bullshit Were not rapistsI didnt want to be misunderstood as a male sympathiser Whoa I said 991 of Indian rapes go unreported Thats factWhose fact said a taciturn Kingfisher And how does anyone figure out who didnt reportExactly said the Heineken If you can count how many women didnt report rape you obviously know who got raped in the first place But you cant possibly know that because they didnt report itI didnt think these beer buddies would be really interested in knowing how its done The unitlevel data of the National Family Health Survey NFHS of 201516 lets us compare data on actual experiences of crime victims with the National Crime Records Bureaus record of First Information Reports Using this the NFHS estimated that 991 of sexual violence cases including rape go unreportedI stood up to leave when a disgruntled Fosters decided to speak up We know that theyre all fake rape reports anyway With MeToo women have realised that they can finally hit back at guys they dont like any more You just go to a cop station and say soandso raped you two decades ago and its curtains for that guy I dont trust your numbers dude Its all fake rapeI sat back in my chair And how many women do you think in your wisdom put out fake rape complaintsRape is a distressing canvas no matter which country It is a soulcrushing devastating sometimes lethal event in the lives of those who suffer it The overwhelming majority of victims are women and increasingly younger and younger children mdash and there is absolutely no indication that it is even close to declining The MeToo movement made it easier for women to come forward and report the traumas they had kept hidden sometimes for decades Monsters such as Harvey Weinstein Jeffrey Epstein Kevin Spacey and Donald Trump got named some of them prosecuted and shamed on the world stage In India high profile men like Tarun Tejpal of Tehelka and MJ Akbar Minister of State for External Affairs have felt the sharp reckoning of the Asian MeToo movementJournalist Priya Ramanis outing of MJ Akbar triggered a flood of 14 similar allegations against Akbar all by women journalists who once worked with him Akbar did the only thing men in his position seem to do mdash malign the accuser and call the accusation a lieThe objective bystander might be right to wonder could 14 women all be making up the story Could all the 24 women who accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct be lying The 23 women who filed charges against Jeffrey Epstein The 87 who came out as targets of Harvey WeinsteinHeres the confounding thing a man accused of rape will have the same response Its a lie I didnt do it He will say this if he is guilty and if he is innocentJust as predictable is the new refrain MeToo women are making fake rape complaints to get even with men they hateIn an arena where numbers are unreliable or unavailable and accusations are mutual and emotionally charged how does one find the truth Statistics comes in suddenly handyLets say only 1 woman in 10 who have suffered rape will file a reportLets say real rape is far more common than fake rape reports I am certain it is Lets assume that for every women who files a fake rape report 10 women would have been raped But since only 1 of those 10 women will actually file a report we get a curious outcome for every woman who files a fake rape claim there will be only one woman filing a genuine rape complaintIn other words 50 of the filed reports would be fake not because large numbers of women are filing fake rape reports but because 9 in 10 women keep their mouths shut after rape My oafish beer buddies uninterested in reason might gloat here We knew it all alongBut in 2016 38947 rapes were reported in India If these represented just 09 of all the rapes that happened the number of rapes in India that year would have been near 43 lakhEven if half of those had been fake rape reports wed be a country where 215 lakh women were raped and subjugated into silence that yearThere is no defence There is simply nothing to be saidHere viewed from there C Y Gopinath in Bangkok throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai the city that raised him You can reach him at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paperCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates