Special Correspondent: India is not safe for women as safety concerns for female in India are a serious issue highlighted by high rates of sexual violence, public harassment, and international travel advisories.

According to Kashmir Media Service, on 22 July 2026, a 20-year-old NEET aspirant from Satna, Madhya Pradesh, was gang-raped in the forested Devangana Valley of Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh.

She had gone to the scenic tourist spot where three men, posing as forest officials, raped her while threatening to throw her off the hill

This was not an isolated rural crime it happened at a place people visit for leisure and foreign tourists often face the same reality in India.

In March 2025, near the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hampi in Karnataka, a 27-year-old Israeli tourist and an Indian homestay operator were gang-raped while stargazing by a canal with three male companions. The attackers pushed the men into the water; one Indian tourist drowned.

The three perpetrators were later sentenced to death, but the damage was done: tourists fled the area in the following days.

In March 2024, seven men gang-raped a Spanish woman in Jharkhand while travelling toward Nepal with her husband; both were beaten and robbed.

In June 2025, a French tourist was raped in Udaipur after being lured from a party.

These are not obscure back-alley incidents they occurred at or near popular tourist destinations.

According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau in 2022, 31,516 reported rape cases roughly 86 per day, or one every 16–17 minutes. In 2023, 29,670 cases and in 2024, 29,536 cases were reported.

Most reported assaults involve known perpetrators, but stranger attacks on tourists and women in public spaces continue.

Under reporting is massive due to stigma, police apathy, and fear.

Overall crimes against women exceeded 4.4 lakh annually in recent years.

On 16 June 2025, the US State Department reissued its Level-2 advisory for India, explicitly warning: “Do not travel alone, especially if you are a woman.”

It stated that rape is one of the fastest-growing crimes in India and that sexual assaults occur at tourist sites. Similar cautions appear in advisories from other countries.

High-risk zones include parts of eastern Maharashtra, northern Telangana, central Chhattisgarh, and areas of West Bengal.

The 2018 Thomson Reuters Foundation survey ranked India the most dangerous country in the world for women ahead of war-torn Afghanistan and Syria based on risks of sexual violence, harmful traditions, and trafficking.

India markets itself with “Atithi Devo Bhava” (the guest is God) while women Indian and foreign are assaulted in forests, heritage sites, hotels, and public spaces.