印度轮奸案主犯之妻面临生活困境

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.

电话从新德里打来时，普尼塔・德维(Punita Devi)做好了最坏的准备。她从电话中得知，丈夫被判绞刑。

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・库马尔・辛格(Akshay Kumar Singh)和其他三名男子本月被定罪，他们所犯的罪行引发全球开始关注印度女性在国内受到的暴力。去年12月，一名23岁的理疗专业学生在巴士上惨遭轮奸后被杀害。

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.

对于受害女子的父母来说，这个判决可谓是此事的一个了结。对20多岁的普尼塔及其两岁的儿子来说，丈夫的犯罪行为和受到的惩罚却为这对母子揭开了充满严重不确定性的一页。

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.

普尼塔预计自己会被自己的婆家赶出家门，然后在印度这个保守的内陆小镇处处遭排斥，并陷入赤贫状态，而造成这个下场的不是因为她的丈夫是个被定罪的杀人犯，而是因为她是一个没有丈夫的女子。普尼塔说，我成了一个寡妇，我的名誉就永久地丧失了。

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.

她丈夫的亲戚说，他们无法养活她。普尼塔的父母说自己家太穷了，不让她回去。这个地区遵循的妇女闭门不出的风俗习惯让她几乎不可能出外工作。

'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?'

普尼塔说，我没有受过太多教育，我们的传统就是这样，我甚至都不能跨出家门，谁来赚钱养活我和儿子？

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.

在普尼塔与丈夫家人居住的这个比哈尔邦(Bihar)东部的小村子里，妇女都要蒙面，且大都足不出户。她们不能在没有男性亲属的陪伴下离家。普尼塔必须等到天黑后，才能到家后面的地里去解手。

'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.

阿克沙伊的哥哥维纳伊・辛格(Vinay Singh)说，妇女出去工作不是我们的传统。普尼塔的婆婆玛拉蒂・德维(Malati Devi)说话更不客气：在我们家，女人死也要死在家里，绝不可抛头露面。

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.

这类态度似乎与印度给外界留下的印象并不相符。上世纪60年代，印度迎来历史上首位女总理英迪拉・甘地(Indira Gandhi)。如今，该国也有多位引人注目的女政治人物和企业高管。但印度乡下对妇女的态度却可能令人窒息。印度有12亿人口，其中近70%都生活在乡下。在那里，妇女的生活高度受限，没有城市中产阶级妇女目前开始享受的那种自由。

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，印度乡下还可能是个充满敌意的地方。村子里发生针对妇女的犯罪一般不会有人报警，事情一般是由那些践行传统的长老们来解决，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.

嫁给一个个声名狼藉的罪犯这种不幸让普尼塔的情况看起来不同寻常。但实际上，她现在面临的基本困难是如何在印度农村活下去的现实。对贫民来说，家里的顶梁柱倒下、农作物收成不好或生病，随便一个挫折就可让整个家庭陷入危机。对乡下的妇女而言，情况可能尤其可怕。

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.

普尼塔在距离Karmalahang约128公里的一个小村庄里长大。她的家人以种地为生，地差不多有六亩，位于恰尔肯德邦(Jharkhand)终年干旱的一个地区。普尼塔说，自己现在21岁。不过其家乡村庄里的校方档案显示，普尼塔今年24岁。

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.

普尼塔有三个姐姐和一个弟弟。上到六年级后，父母让普尼塔辍学，这样母亲生了病，她就可以烧饭、收拾屋子。姐姐们那时要么已经离开家，要么即将离家。父母认为，让儿子上学比让女儿上学更重要。

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，女性的读写能力落后于男性。据印度人口普查数据显示，农村地区识字女性的比例不到60%，男性为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.

普尼塔说，她会写自己的名字和几个印地语词汇，能识一些字。她说，很小自己就知道女人应该做什么：带孩子和做家务。

'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.

普尼塔说：从母亲身上我就学到了，结婚住进婆家后，自己要怎么做。

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.

她母亲里拉瓦蒂•德维(Lilavati Devi)说，自己与丈夫拉吉•莫罕•辛格(Raj Mohan Singh)结婚时还是个孩子，丈夫比她大了几岁。现年60岁的里拉瓦蒂成年后的生活大多局限在自己那个泥 小家之内。

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.'

印度这一地区的许多妇女以德维为姓。这个词在印地语中的意思是“女神”。但它并非女性相对地位的象征。Karmalahang的政府医疗工作者苏达•德维(Sudha Devi)说，对我们来说，丈夫就是神，我们想都没想过平等。她与普尼塔并无亲属关系。

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年将她嫁给了阿克沙伊。做媒的是邻村的一名妇女，她嫁给了阿克沙伊的一个哥哥。

'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.'

普尼塔说，我并不是被逼的，但那是我父母做的决定；在乡下就是这样的，在一个女人一生中，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.

两家人都属于等级相对较高的拉其普特(Rajput)种姓，也都是农民。里拉瓦蒂说，这是桩门当户对的婚事。2010年5月，她送走了女儿，陪了简单的嫁妆：一张木床和一些厨房用具。

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

里拉瓦蒂说，我跟她说要好好地安心跟家人过日子――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.

结婚头两年顺利度过。她的丈夫、28岁的阿克沙伊是三兄弟中最小的。因此普尼塔来到的是个大家庭，不光包括公婆，还有阿克沙伊的兄弟以及他们的妻儿。

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.

她的新家所在的村庄Karmalahang离主道公路(Grand Trunk Road)约18英里（合29公里）。这条路自古就是商业路线，连接印度东部的加尔各答与阿富汗首都喀布尔，位于盖穆尔山(Kaimur Hills)脚下。

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.

山岭阻碍了富含水分的空气，并在Karmalahang上方造成了所谓的雨影区，从而令此地的1,500人从事的农业活动成为危险的生计。这种情况加上缺乏工业，导致这个地区的许多年轻男子前往城市打工。

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们也不例外，他们全都没有念完中学。凭借他们的收入，他们每人每个月可以寄回大约30美元至45美元供养整个大家庭。

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

普尼塔说，我从未问过他在什么地方、做些什么，我知道他去赚钱了。

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，普尼塔生了个儿子。这个孩子总是出现肺部感染，但阿克沙伊的收入足以支付每个月看医生和吃药的费用。

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月被捕后，他的家庭遭遇剧变。他的两个哥哥、曾经在德里附近打工的维纳伊和阿布依(Abhay)离开工作三个月帮助家里，因而加剧了家里的财务紧张。这家人的名声已经受损。

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车赶往新德里看望狱中的丈夫，那是她第一次去首都。她说，在探视区透过玻璃隔板第一眼看到丈夫时，她就哭了起来。

'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.'

据普尼塔说，阿克沙伊告诉她要好好照片自己和孩子。她说，阿克沙伊对她说自己会回家的，他是无辜的。

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.

但普尼塔说，没有丈夫的薪水，她无法让儿子得到医治。孩子的饮食也成了问题，因为母子俩都靠阿克沙伊哥嫂的救济过活。

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

普尼塔说，我觉得很虚弱，没人看得起一个没有丈夫支持的女人。

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?'

普尼塔的父亲拉吉•莫罕•辛格说，女儿不能回到他与妻子和儿子一家同住的家里。他说，我们无力照顾她，她的弟弟也没法供养她，他连自己都照顾不了，还怎么照顾普尼塔？

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.'

普尼塔不知道该去哪里。她在得知死刑判决后哭着问道：有人想到我吗？我还活着，还有个喘气的小孩子。