At least 12% victims of sexual assault did not share their trauma with anybody for 10 years or more. About 70% feared that the offender would return to hurt them again. Around 70% pretended to be alright to avoid talking on the subject.
About 65% women had different symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder even six months after the occurrence. And roughly the same percentage said they had suicidal thoughts intermittently for two years. These are some of the initial findings of an eight-year study conducted between 2000-08 by a Delhi-based NGO, Swanchetan, which provides psychological help and support to victims of violence, abuse and trauma.
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics show that between 1953 and 2006, incidents of rape grew by 678%—2,487 cases in 1953 to 19,348 cases in 2006. Every 27 minutes a woman is raped making it the fastest growing crime in India. According to the study, the survivors who kept silent for 10 years finally decided to go for counselling after either reading an article in a newspaper or after watching a TV programme on counselling. They had not confided in anybody due to a feeling of "shame".
To get over the trauma, many survivors even feigned they were alright to avoid uncomfortable questions. According to a study, a vast majority of rape victims show symptoms of post-traumatic stress.Many women feared the offender might return. "In some cases, the perpetrator had given indications of coming back. This is what had caused the fear," he says.
Nearly 63% of the women said that they could not shout when attacked. "They felt an intense sense of disbelief and horror at what someone was doing to them. Many had difficulty explaining why they could not shout or scream and described as if their voice had frozen at that time although they could feel an inner resistance against the offender. On average, a sexual assault survivor had to recount the incident at least six times to police, doctor, family and friends.