A trainee physiotherapist is gang-raped on the night bus home. When they are sure it?s terminal, the government ships her off to Singapore for the best in medical care and to forestall riots should she die on their patch at home. Rape falls into the category of "Eve teasing? so far as the police are concerned. This excuses behaviour that ranges from catcalls to systematic violence. Fed up with being ignored when they are sexually harassed on a daily basis, the women of Delhi demonstrate in their thousands anyway ? accompanied by a gratifying number of men. The world gives an echo of protest with "One Billion Rising?.

It?s better in the UK isn?t it? Hmmm...?

Whilst I would hope that our own low conviction rate for sexual assault is due to outstanding legal defence practice, it is, in fact, more a reflection of our primitive society.

We are more advanced than some cultures: unlike Afghanistan, we do not have a situation where the complainant, lacking the requisite four male witnesses to her rape, promptly gets jailed for fornication. Insensitive policing for us means a sarky comment, rather than summoning the woman to the station to make a statement at 3am ? so that she meets the perpetrators again on the way.

In a land of "equal opportunities?, women are properly valued and the police go on endless courses in gender awareness. If they don?t take action on a sexual assault, they will have to fill out endless forms justifying that decision; and, when they do proceed, the victim has the comforts of a "Sapphire? suite and a prosecutor with special skills and empathy.