India anti-rape rap song resonates from South Asia to Fremont

A female Indian duo’s rap song protesting violence against women has gone viral, joining the global debate about women’s rights with a fiery message that has spread online from South Asia to Fremont.

“Rap Against Rape,” written and performed by Pankhuri Awasthi and Uppekha Jain, has garnered more than 540,000 YouTube views since its March 16 release. The Mumbai-based performers, known as the BomBaebs, say they are proud of India, saying it is “1,000 shades of fabulous.” But they also want to improve its treatment of women, as the lyrics in their a cappella song lament India’s reputation for being “the land of rapes.”

“We want to use our music to make a difference,” Jain told this newspaper this month, speaking by phone from a Mumbai cafe. “Women empowerment is an issue close to both of our hearts.” The performers said they wrote the 3-minute protest rap because they, too, have experienced street harassment and misogyny. They also wanted to stir debate on how society can get rid of its rape culture and better protect women. “It is the most burning issue right now in India,” Awasthi said.

It’s been a hot-button topic since December 2012, when a young woman was gang-raped on a moving bus in New Delhi. She died from the attack two weeks later.

While that heinous crime outraged people around the world, it hit home hard in Fremont, where 1 in 5 residents are of Indian descent. Bay Area Indian-Americans came together and held a candlelight vigil for the victim at a Hindu temple.

The Indian government since has passed stricter laws aimed at protecting women, such as expanding the definition of rape, banning stalking and voyeurism, and giving harsher punishments for rapists.

But anger among Indians swelled again in early March when one of the convicted rapists was quoted as blaming the victim for the senseless attack. Then, an Indian court banned “India’s Daughter,” a BBC documentary about the 2012 gang-rape.

A week after that ruling, Awasthi and Jain filmed and posted “Rap Against Rape” on their YouTube channel.

The song’s lyrics include: When a girl who’s been raped/has to hide her face/And then that same society/makes a porn star their celebrity/To teach women obedience/there’s domestic violence/But no one will report it/They’re meant to absorb it with silence.

The video quickly went viral, and the response they received via email and social media since has been overwhelming, the duo said.

“People all over the world have sent us messages, with some sending their own lyrics,” Jain said. “People walk up to us on the street to thank us for putting into words what they’ve felt.”

The rap has touched a nerve because Awasthi and Jain represent a rising number of “young, educated, progressive, moderate people who are pressuring Indian leaders to change,” said Shailaja Dixit, a leader at Narika, a Berkeley organization that helps South Asian victims of domestic violence.

“They’re saying, ‘We’re tired of being ignored, and we’re tired of being told this is how it will always be,'” she said.

Dixit praised the song for inviting men to be part of the solution. “Even though there is anger in their words, it’s not delivered with bitterness,” she said.

Rape is a problem in many countries, victims advocates say, and India’s women’s rights movement has joined a global wave of protests seen also in Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan. Recent demonstrations were held in Fremont, New York City and other parts of the United States, where 1 in 5 women has been raped and reportedly less than 40 percent of rape cases led to an arrest.

Although it is a global issue, some statistics in India are alarming. The New Delhi-based National Crime Records Bureau states that nearly 68,000 rapes were reported from 2009-11, but just 16,000 offenders were convicted of the crime, according to Indian news site FirstPost.com. Around 600 rapes were reported in New Delhi in 2012, but there was only one conviction that year, according to The New York Times.

In the Bay Area, a number of nonprofit groups specifically help South Asian victims of rape and domestic violence.

“There’s a perception of it being a problem only back home, but when we immigrated here, we brought some of the same issues with us,” Dixit said. “Making a good salary in a good neighborhood doesn’t stop domestic violence from taking place here.”

Fremont-based Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments (SAVE) has begun offering support groups in the languages of Hindi, Bangla and Punjabi. Residents speaking those languages can receive free services and counseling from Maitri, a San Jose group that helps South Asian abuse victims.

“There’s so much violence against women in so many countries,” said Tina Fernandez, a SAVE leader. “I think individuals in those cultures are saying enough is enough.”

Awasthi and Jain, living halfway across the globe in Mumbai, last week released another anti-rape anthem, “Echoes of Pain.” The song, accompanied by music this time, was produced by DeLon, a Sri Lankan rap artist-producer now based in Los Angeles. The BomBaebs will continue using art to raise awareness about rape, Awasthi said.

“There was a social stigma in the past about speaking up,” she said. “But people now are reporting it, and that’s good for the country because it’s forced decision-makers to talk about it.”

Contact Chris De Benedetti at 510-293-2480. Follow him at Twitter.com/cdebenedetti.