Why do we still cling to the belief that most rapes are committed by strangers in dark alleyways?

It wasn’t until a close friend of mine was brutally gang-raped and murdered - in her own home, by people she knew - that I realised the reality of violence against women

I was raised by two very strong feminists – my mother and my aunt – so I’m no stranger to conversations about women’s rights and gender equality. It wasn’t unusual for our dinnertime discussions to centre around the empowerment of women, with a particular focus on the education of girls in Bangladeshi villages.

Violence against women was a topic that frequently cropped up. It wasn’t until a close friend of mine was brutally gan- raped and murdered that the full realisation hit me. I was just a teenager, but overnight my whole outlook on life was turned upside down as the horrific details emerged from my friend’s attack. Perhaps the most sinister part was that my friend had been raped in her own home by people she knew.

I had always naively assumed rape was commonly carried out by strangers in dark alleyways. However, as I read up more on this heinous crime, myths were dispelled. Research in the US has shown that approximately 80 per cent of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim and approximately 50 per cent of all rape and sexual assault incidents were reported by victims to have occurred within one mile of their home or at their home.

In the years after my friend was attacked, none of my teenage friends felt safe in our own homes. It was a stark realisation that anyone could be raped and for many of us, that incident robbed us of our innocence.

Reading about Jyoti Singh, the 23-year-old medical student gang-raped and slaughtered on a bus in Delhi in 2013, brought back the most horrendous of memories. Listening to her parents reduced me to tears. When someone is raped, the victim’s suffering is obviously incomparable but the impact on the victim’s family and friends is often underreported. The sense of being unable to protect your loved ones is unimaginable and the feeling of despair about the pain they went through is irreparable.

There were times when I felt I couldn’t bear to carry on reading the details of what Jyoti went through. It was simply inhumane, but that’s the reality. It happened to a young Indian woman who was simply out for a cinema outing with a friend. Through no fault of her own, she landed in the hands of barbaric men. Sadly, it won’t end with Jyoti’s ordeal.

According to figures released by the National Crime Records Bureau, the total number of rape cases reported in India has gone up to 33,707 in 2013 from 24,923 in 2012.

These are not just statistics, there are 33,707 women and girls. Out of these 33,707 females, there are toddlers who haven’t learnt to speak properly, who can barely walk. There are mothers and grandmothers who are nearly at the end of their lives. There are women and girls, like you and me, who enjoy going to concerts with friends and look forward to holidays.

These are children who are robbed of their childhood, girls who are scarred for life, women who are violated forever.

That’s why I’m so proud to support #HerVoice, a campaign designed to put pressure on the Indian Government to protect women and girls’ safety and security. Violence against women is a global phenomenon, not one exclusive to India, and victims around the world deserve our universal solidarity. We owe it to the Jyoti’s of this world, to my teenage friend and to ourselves.

Tulip Siddiq is the Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn. She is also a member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee

More information about the #HerVoice campaign can be found on their website here