8. The natural inclination would be to avoid giving publicity to the incident lest the family name and honor is brought into controversy.
9. The parents of a unmarried girl and also the husband and members of the family of a married woman, would also mire often than not, want to avoid publicity on account of the fear of social stigma on the family and honor.
10. The fear of the victim herself being considered to be promiscuous or in some way responsible for the incident regardless of her innocence.
11. The reluctance to face interrogation by the investigation agency, to face the court, to face the cross-examination by the counsel for the culprit, and the risk of being disbelieved, acts as a deterrent.
In the view of these factors, the victim and their relatives are not too keen to bring the culprit to hook.
This deterrent results in the cases not being reported. The criminal is never punished for the crime he committed while the victim lives with the monsters of the day throughout her life.
There are various examples that we can quote essaying how the family and the society behaves as an deterrent and result in preventin the rape to be filed.
The national survey by an NGO states that out of the 100 rape that take place in India about 75 get reported and out of these only about 30 go on trial while only 5 or 6 assaulters get the sentence. These statistics are very vague but the message they convey are very clear. In the normal life, the victims do not come forward to report such cases. There are various reasons that bound them. They have to keep in mind not only themselves but also the status of their family and society.
In the Indian context, referral to the act on the testimony of a victim of sexual assault in the absence of the girl or the woman who complain of rape or sexual molestation in the absence of collaboration id usually adding insult to injury. Why should the evidence of the girl of the woman who complains of rape or sexual assault be viewed with the aid of spectacles fitted with lenses tinged with doubt, disbelief or suspicion? To do so is to justify the charge of male chauvinism in a male dominated society.
