A politically-charged photography project that shows women wearing cow masks in everyday situations has gone viral after raising questions about women’s rights in India.
Launched by male photographer Sujatro Ghosh, the project aims to point out the double standards of treatment in the predominantly Hindu nation.
“I am perturbed by the fact that in my country, cows are considered more important than a woman. That it takes much longer for a woman who is raped or assaulted to get justice than for a cow which many Hindus consider a sacred animal,” 23-year-old Ghosh told the BBC earlier this week.
“These cases go on for years in the courts before the guilty are punished, whereas when a cow is slaughtered, Hindu extremist groups immediately go and kill or beat up whoever they suspect of slaughter.”
According to recent statistics, a rape is reported in India every 15 minutes. Few cases, however, lead to prosecution and often the victims of sexual assault are shunned by their family and friends.
In 2012, the attack on 23-year-old Jyoti Singh made headlines around the world after she was raped by six men and eventually died from internal injuries brought on by the attack. In 2015, two sisters were sentenced to gang rape by a jury as punishment for their brother eloping with a married woman. Earlier this year, one woman was gang-raped by a group of men before being murdered and left on the street.
