印度輪姦案主犯之妻面臨生活困境

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When the call came from New Delhi, Punita Devi braced herself for the worst. Her husband, she learned, had been sentenced to death by hanging.

電話從新德里打來時，普尼塔・德維(Punita Devi)做好了最壞的準備。她從電話中得知，丈夫被判絞刑。

Akshay Kumar Singh and three other men were convicted this month of a crime that focused the world's attention on violence against women in India: the gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a bus in December.

阿克沙伊・庫馬爾・辛格(Akshay Kumar Singh)和其他三名男子本月被定罪，他們所犯的罪行引發全球開始關注印度女性在國內受到的暴力。去年12月，一名23歲的理療專業學生在巴士上慘遭輪姦後被殺害。

For the parents of the woman who died, the sentencing brought a measure of closure. For Ms. Devi, who is in her 20s, and her 2-year-old son, her husband's crime and punishment have opened up a chapter of profound uncertainty.

對於受害女子的父母來說，這個判決可謂是此事的一個了結。對20多歲的普尼塔及其兩歲的兒子來說，丈夫的犯罪行爲和受到的懲罰卻爲這對母子揭開了充滿嚴重不確定性的一頁。

Ms. Devi expects to be cast out by her in-laws and face ostracism and destitution here in India's conservative hinterland-not because she is married to a convicted murderer, but because she is a woman without a husband. 'As a widow, my honor will be lost forever,' she says.

普尼塔預計自己會被自己的婆家趕出家門，然後在印度這個保守的內陸小鎮處處遭排斥，並陷入赤貧狀態，而造成這個下場的不是因爲她的丈夫是個被定罪的殺人犯，而是因爲她是一個沒有丈夫的女子。普尼塔說，我成了一個寡婦，我的名譽就永久地喪失了。

Her husband's relatives say they can't afford to feed her. Her parents say they are too poor to take her back. The customs of purdah practiced in the region make it almost impossible for her to work outside the home.

她丈夫的親戚說，他們無法養活她。普尼塔的父母說自己家太窮了，不讓她回去。這個地區遵循的婦女閉門不出的風俗習慣讓她幾乎不可能出外工作。

'I am not educated. Our traditions are such that I cannot even step out of the house,' Ms. Devi said. 'Who will earn money to feed me and my son?'

普尼塔說，我沒有受過太多教育，我們的傳統就是這樣，我甚至都不能跨出家門，誰來賺錢養活我和兒子？

In the village where Ms. Devi lives in eastern Bihar state with her husband's family, women are kept veiled and largely secluded. They can't leave home without a male relative. Ms. Devi must wait until dark simply to go into the field behind her house to defecate.

在普尼塔與丈夫家人居住的這個比哈爾邦(Bihar)東部的小村子裏，婦女都要蒙面，且大都足不出戶。她們不能在沒有男性親屬的陪伴下離家。普尼塔必須等到天黑後，才能到家後面的地裏去解手。

'A woman going out for work is not in our tradition,' says Vinay Singh, Mr. Singh's older brother. Ms. Devi's mother-in-law, Malati Devi, is blunter. 'In our family, women die at home. They never venture outside,' she says.

阿克沙伊的哥哥維納伊・辛格(Vinay Singh)說，婦女出去工作不是我們的傳統。普尼塔的婆婆瑪拉蒂・德維(Malati Devi)說話更不客氣：在我們家，女人死也要死在家裏，絕不可拋頭露面。

Such attitudes may seem out of character in a country that had its first female prime minister, Indira Gandhi, in the 1960s, and that today boasts high-profile women politicians and executives. But India's countryside, home to nearly 70% of its 1.2 billion people, can be a stifling place, where women live highly circumscribed lives and lack freedoms their urban, middle-class counterparts are starting to enjoy.

這類態度似乎與印度給外界留下的印象並不相符。上世紀60年代，印度迎來歷史上首位女總理英迪拉・甘地(Indira Gandhi)。如今，該國也有多位引人注目的女政治人物和企業高管。但印度鄉下對婦女的態度卻可能令人窒息。印度有12億人口，其中近70%都生活在鄉下。在那裏，婦女的生活高度受限，沒有城市中產階級婦女目前開始享受的那種自由。

It can also be a hostile place. In villages crimes against women often aren't reported to police, and cases are settled by elders enforcing custom rather than law.

此外，印度鄉下還可能是個充滿敵意的地方。村子裏發生針對婦女的犯罪一般不會有人報警，事情一般是由那些踐行傳統的長老們來解決，而不是依法行事。

Ms. Devi's misfortune to be married to a notorious convict makes her situation seem extraordinary. But in fact, the basic difficulties she now faces are a reality of life in the Indian countryside. For the poorest, a single setback-loss of a breadwinner, lackluster crop, illness-can propel a family into crisis. For rural women, it can be especially dire.

嫁給一個個聲名狼藉的罪犯這種不幸讓普尼塔的情況看起來不同尋常。但實際上，她現在面臨的基本困難是如何在印度農村活下去的現實。對貧民來說，家裏的頂樑柱倒下、農作物收成不好或生病，隨便一個挫折就可讓整個家庭陷入危機。對鄉下的婦女而言，情況可能尤其可怕。

Ms. Devi grew up in a small village about 80 miles from Karmalahang. Her family farms a one-acre plot in a perennially drought-stricken district of Jharkhand state. Ms. Devi says she is 21 years old, although school records in her home village give her age as 24.

普尼塔在距離Karmalahang約128公里的一個小村莊里長大。她的家人以種地爲生，地差不多有六畝，位於恰爾肯德邦(Jharkhand)終年乾旱的一個地區。普尼塔說，自己現在21歲。不過其家鄉村莊裏的校方檔案顯示，普尼塔今年24歲。

She has three older sisters and a younger brother. She was pulled out of school after the sixth grade by her parents so she could cook and clean after her mother became ill. Her sisters all had either left home or were about to, and her parents decided it was more important for their son to be educated than a daughter.

普尼塔有三個姐姐和一個弟弟。上到六年級後，父母讓普尼塔輟學，這樣母親生了病，她就可以燒飯、收拾屋子。姐姐們那時要麼已經離開家，要麼即將離家。父母認爲，讓兒子上學比讓女兒上學更重要。

Across India, literacy among women lags that of men. In rural areas, less than 60% of women can read, according to Indian census data, compared with 80% of men.

在印度，女性的讀寫能力落後於男性。據印度人口普查數據顯示，農村地區識字女性的比例不到60%，男性爲80%。

Ms. Devi says she can write her name and a few Hindi words, and read a bit. She knew from an early age, she says, what was expected of a woman: to raise children and take care of household tasks.

普尼塔說，她會寫自己的名字和幾個印地語詞彙，能識一些字。她說，很小自己就知道女人應該做什麼：帶孩子和做家務。

'I learned how I had to behave when I got married and went to my in-laws' house just by watching my mother,' says Ms. Devi.

普尼塔說：從母親身上我就學到了，結婚住進婆家後，自己要怎麼做。

Her mother, Lilavati Devi, says she was a child when she was married to her husband, Raj Mohan Singh, who was a few years older. Now 60, Lilavati Devi has spent most of her adult life within the confines of her small, mud-walled home.

她母親里拉瓦蒂•德維(Lilavati Devi)說，自己與丈夫拉吉•莫罕•辛格(Raj Mohan Singh)結婚時還是個孩子，丈夫比她大了幾歲。現年60歲的里拉瓦蒂成年後的生活大多侷限在自己那個泥 小家之內。

Many women in this part of India use Devi as their last name. The word means 'goddess' in Hindi. But it isn't a sign of the relative status of women. 'To us, husbands are our gods,' says Sudha Devi, a government health worker in Karmalahang and no relation to Punita Devi. 'We can't think of being equal.'

印度這一地區的許多婦女以德維爲姓。這個詞在印地語中的意思是“女神”。但它並非女性相對地位的象徵。Karmalahang的政府醫療工作者蘇達•德維(Sudha Devi)說，對我們來說，丈夫就是神，我們想都沒想過平等。她與普尼塔並無親屬關係。

Ms. Devi's parents arranged her marriage to Mr. Singh in 2010. The connection was made through a woman from a neighboring village who was married to one of Mr. Singh's older brothers.

普尼塔的父母在2010年將她嫁給了阿克沙伊。做媒的是鄰村的一名婦女，她嫁給了阿克沙伊的一個哥哥。

'I wasn't forced into it, but it was a decision taken by my parents. This is how it works here in the countryside,' Ms. Devi says. 'In a woman's life, marriage and her husband are everything.'

普尼塔說，我並不是被逼的，但那是我父母做的決定；在鄉下就是這樣的，在一個女人一生中，婚姻和丈夫就是一切。

Both families belong to the relatively high-ranking Rajput caste and are farmers. 'It was a fine match,' says Lilavati Devi. In May 2010 she sent her daughter off with a simple dowry: a wooden bed and some kitchen utensils.

兩家人都屬於等級相對較高的拉其普特(Rajput)種姓，也都是農民。里拉瓦蒂說，這是樁門當戶對的婚事。2010年5月，她送走了女兒，陪了簡單的嫁妝：一張木牀和一些廚房用具。

'I told her to live well and peacefully with her family-her new family,' Lilavati Devi says.

里拉瓦蒂說，我跟她說要好好地安心跟家人過日子――她的新家人。

The first two years of marriage went smoothly. Her husband Mr. Singh, 28, is the youngest of three brothers. So Ms. Devi settled into a household that included not just her parents-in-law, but also Mr. Singh's siblings and their wives and children.

結婚頭兩年順利度過。她的丈夫、28歲的阿克沙伊是三兄弟中最小的。因此普尼塔來到的是個大家庭，不光包括公婆，還有阿克沙伊的兄弟以及他們的妻兒。

Her new village, Karmalahang, is about 18 miles from the Grand Trunk Road, a commercial route since ancient times that connects Kolkata in eastern India to the Afghan capital of Kabul, and sits at the foot of the Kaimur Hills.

她的新家所在的村莊Karmalahang離主道公路(Grand Trunk Road)約18英里（合29公里）。這條路自古就是商業路線，連接印度東部的加爾各答與阿富汗首都喀布爾，位於蓋穆爾山(Kaimur Hills)腳下。

The mountains block water-laden air and create what is known as a rain shadow over Karmalahang, making farming for the 1,500 people here a precarious existence. That, combined with a lack of industry, drives many young men from the area to head to cities for jobs.

山嶺阻礙了富含水分的空氣，並在Karmalahang上方造成了所謂的雨影區，從而令此地的1,500人從事的農業活動成爲危險的生計。這種情況加上缺乏工業，導致這個地區的許多年輕男子前往城市打工。

Mr. Singh and his brothers, none of whom finished high school, were no exception. From their earnings, each would send about $30 to $45 a month to support the extended family.

阿克沙伊和他的兄弟們也不例外，他們全都沒有唸完中學。憑藉他們的收入，他們每人每個月可以寄回大約30美元至45美元供養整個大家庭。

'I never asked him where he was or what he was doing,' says Ms. Devi. 'I knew he went to earn money.'

普尼塔說，我從未問過他在什麼地方、做些什麼，我知道他去賺錢了。

In June 2011, Ms. Devi gave birth to a son. The child was prone to lung infections, but Mr. Singh's earnings were enough to pay for monthly doctor's visits and medicine.

2011年6月，普尼塔生了個兒子。這個孩子總是出現肺部感染，但阿克沙伊的收入足以支付每個月看醫生和吃藥的費用。

Since Mr. Singh's December arrest, his family has been thrown into upheaval. His brothers, Vinay and Abhay, who had also been working around Delhi, left their jobs for three months to help out at home, straining household finances. The family's reputation has been damaged.

自阿克沙伊去年12月被捕後，他的家庭遭遇劇變。他的兩個哥哥、曾經在德里附近打工的維納伊和阿布依(Abhay)離開工作三個月幫助家裏，因而加劇了家裏的財務緊張。這家人的名聲已經受損。

In April, Ms. Devi took an overnight train trip to New Delhi, her first visit to the capital, to see her husband in jail. When she caught her first glimpse of him through the glass partition in the visitors' area, she says, she started to cry.

今年4月，普尼塔坐了一整夜的火車趕往新德里看望獄中的丈夫，那是她第一次去首都。她說，在探視區透過玻璃隔板第一眼看到丈夫時，她就哭了起來。

'Keep yourself and the child well,' Mr. Singh told her, according to Ms. Devi. She says he told her: 'I will come home. I am innocent.'

據普尼塔說，阿克沙伊告訴她要好好照片自己和孩子。她說，阿克沙伊對她說自己會回家的，他是無辜的。

But without her husband's wages, Ms. Devi says, she hasn't been able to get medical treatment for her son. The child's diet is also suffering, as mother and child subsist on handouts from Mr. Singh's brothers and their wives.

但普尼塔說，沒有丈夫的薪水，她無法讓兒子得到醫治。孩子的飲食也成了問題，因爲母子倆都靠阿克沙伊哥嫂的救濟過活。

'I feel weak,' says Ms. Devi. 'Nobody thinks well of a woman whose husband isn't with her for support.'

普尼塔說，我覺得很虛弱，沒人看得起一個沒有丈夫支持的女人。

Ms. Devi's father, Raj Mohan Singh, says his daughter can't return to the home he and his wife share with their son's family. 'We won't be able to look after her,' he says. 'Her brother can't support her, either. He isn't able to look after himself. How can he look after Punita?'

普尼塔的父親拉吉•莫罕•辛格說，女兒不能回到他與妻子和兒子一家同住的家裏。他說，我們無力照顧她，她的弟弟也沒法供養她，他連自己都照顧不了，還怎麼照顧普尼塔？

Ms. Devi doesn't know where to turn. 'Is there anyone who is thinking of me?' she asked, crying after learning of the death sentence. 'I am alive and I have a small child who is still breathing.'

普尼塔不知道該去哪裏。她在得知死刑判決後哭着問道：有人想到我嗎？我還活着，還有個喘氣的小孩子。