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The recent death of a young Dalit (formerly untouchable) woman, who was allegedly gang-raped and assaulted in northern India, has led to shock, outrage and protests across the country.

The case has also raised an inevitable question – how safe is India for women?

As newer generations of girls and young women go out to study and work in larger numbers than ever before, is there any sign of fewer crimes against them? Official data shows that a rape is committed every 16 minutes in the country: that’s 87 every day.

So, what can be done to check sexual violence against women? Should there be stricter law enforcement and speedier justice? Or is there a need to first tackle the deep-rooted patriarchal mindset? Can new age solutions such as online data mapping, real-time alerts or anti-rape technology offer much help?

In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we introspect and ask, what can India do to protect its women?

Presenter: Devina Gupta
Contributors: Dr Kalpana Viswanath, co-founder, CEO, Safetipin; Dr Sunita Toor, criminologist, Sheffield Hallam University; Antika Sarkar, programme associate, Equal Community Foundation