The public places where women in India are raped

Here's a look at the 10 places women are most likely to get raped in India

Who could have thought that seemingly safe public places such as ladies parks, malls and school buses can turn out to be the leading crime scenes where women in India are frequently raped.

But that is exactly what the Rape in India Project aims to portray by documenting locations and spaces where sexual assaults have occurred.

"The story of rape in India is truly horrific," said photographer and the project co-founder Poulomi Basu.



"With this project, we want to initiate a dialogue around the subject of rape and sexual assault. The banality of the locations where many rapes have taken place is chilling. Perhaps, we are not as safe as we think in such places," she added.

Here's a look at the 10 places where women are most likely to get raped:

1. Ladies Park

A 19-year-old girl from Mumbai was allegedly drugged and raped by a youth in Kolkata (Calcutta) in August 2012. The crime took place in a well-lit park.

PHOTO: CJ Clarke



2. Mall

A 27-year-old businesswoman was gang-raped by two men in her office in the Vardhman Premium Mall in Delhi’s Pitampura area in November 2013.

PHOTO: Poulomi Basu

3. Bridge

A 16-year-old girl was raped where a group of people sit on a bridge in the northern Indian city of Varanasi. She was kidnapped from near her home in the evening as she was returning from a shop after buying a matchbox.

Photo: Ravi Mishra



4. Bus

A 10-year-old girl was playing outside her home in the Sultanpuri area of Delhi when she was lured into a bus by her neighbour who then sexually assaulted her in April 2013.

Photo: Poulomi Basu

5. Car

A 17-year-old was gang-raped by three men in a parked car, in south Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave area in October 2013.

Photo: Poulomi Basu



6. Railway station

A girl was trafficked and raped at the Jalpaiguri railway station in 2014 after being picked up from the Bagdogra airport in north-east India.

Photo: Poulomi Basu

7. Car shed

An eight-year-old girl was raped and murdered by a 19-year-old construction worker in February near Hoskote, 40km (24 miles) from the city of Bangalore. Her mutilated body was found in a temporary car shed.

Photo: Samyukta Lakshmi



8. Hotel

A 28-year-old Tibetan nurse was raped in the five star Oberoi hotel in south New Delhi, whilst she cared for the hotel owner's 80-year-old wife. One of the accused was the ailing woman’s personal cook.

Photo: Poulomi Basu

9. Street

A 16-year-old, runaway girl was gang-raped at night in back lane of Connaught Place, New Delhi in December 2013. The area has many shops and hotels and is popular with locals and tourists alike.

Photo: Poulomi Basu



10. Home

A woman was raped by a 28-year-old police constable in New Delhi Saket sector 7 in June 2014. The officer began to stalk the woman, a widow, after she made an emergency call to the police. One evening when she was alone, he forced entry into her house, thrashed her and threatened to implicate her son, who lives with her, in a case if she did not allow him to rape her.

Photo: Poulomi Basu

This article originally appeared on BBC.