A professor at one of Germany's oldest universities apologised on Monday for denying an internship to an Indian student because of the “rape problem in India” after the German ambassador strongly condemned the incident. 
 
 
 
 The matter came to light after a colleague of the Indian student posted emails exchanged between Annette G Beck-Sickinger, the professor at Leipzig University, and the student on the question-and-answer site Quora. Neither the student nor the colleague identified themselves. 
 
 
 
 The issue emerged amidst a renewed debate on the country's poor record in women's safety, especially after the controversy generated by the banned documentary, India's Daughter, which purportedly highlights the misogynist mindset of Indian men. 
 
 
 
 By Monday evening, another student came forward to tell the media that Beck-Sickinger had refused his PhD application in March 2014 on similar grounds. In an email purportedly sent by the professor to this student, she wrote she no longer accepted “any male Indian guests, trainees, doctoral students, or post docs due to the severe rape problem in India”. 
 
 
 
 In a statement posted on the German Embassy website, Beck-Sickinger apologized, saying: "I have made a mistake. I sincerely apologise to everyone whose feelings I have hurt." 
 
 
 
 Beck-Sickinger, a professor of biochemistry and bio-organic chemistry, did not deny the email exchange with the Indian student who initially accused her. 
 
 
 
 Reached for her comments through email, she told Hindustan Times that the matter was a "misunderstanding" and the outcome of an "unpleasant discussion" with the Indian student. 
 
 
 
 She claimed the university did not discriminate with Indian students and that she had accepted several Indians in her department in the past. 
 
 
 
 "Unfortunately, this mail was a misunderstanding. Of course, I have nothing against male Indians and I have accepted several Indian students in the past. Currently, two male Indian students work in a lab course with me in my labs," she said. 
 
 
 
 "However, my lab is full and I cannot take any additional student in summer. This led to an unpleasant discussion with one of the Indian student," she added. 
 
 One email from Beck-Sickinger posted on Quora stated: "Unfortunately I don't accept any Indian male students for internships. We hear a lot about the rape problem in India which I cannot support. I have many female students in my group, so I think this attitude is something I cannot support." 
 
 
 
 On the Quora post, the Indian student's colleague said Beck-Sickinger had also sent him an email in which she said it was "unbelievable" that Indian society had not been able to solve the problem of rape. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "I fully agree that this is a generalisation and may not apply to individuals. However, it is also unbelievable that the Indian society is not able to solve this problem for many years now. Reports reach Germany on a weekly base (basis), and especially these 'multi-rape crimes' are threatening, but for me also demonstrate the attitude of a society towards women. Also female tourist are kidnapped by groups of males and then abused," Beck-Sickinger wrote. 
 
 
 
 She claimed that "many female professors in Germany (have) decided to no longer accept Indian male students for these reasons, and currently other European female associations are joining." 
 
 
 
 German ambassador Michael Steiner reacted strongly to the professor's denial of internship and endorsed India's efforts to deal with violence against women. 
 
 
 
 In a letter to Beck-Sickinger, which was made public, Steiner said, "Your oversimplifying and discriminating generalisation is an offense to these women and men ardently committed to furthering women empowerment in India; and it is an offense to millions of law-abiding, tolerant, open-minded and hard-working Indians. 
 
 
 
 "Let's be clear: India is not a country of rapists. I would encourage you to learn more about the diverse, dynamic and fascinating country and the many welcoming and open-minded people of India so that you could connect a simplistic image, which -- in my opinion -- is particularly unsuitable for a professor and teacher," Steiner added. 
 
 
 
 Leipzig University was founded in 1409, making it one of Germany's oldest universities. Its website describes it as an "interdisciplinary, international comprehensive university" that was placed among the top 25 in Germany for four consecutive years by a global ranking agency. 
 
 
 
 Last week, the Indian government barred the screening of India's Daughter, a documentary by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin on the brutal gang-rape of a young student in December 2012. 
 
 
 
 Despite the ban, the film has been viewed on the internet by many Indians, triggering a fresh debate on rape and steps to counter violence against women and the mindset behind such attacks. ||||| Thank you for the A2A. I've been holding off answering this question for a while, as there are some missing pieces in this puzzle. 
 
 
 
 To being with, from the snapshots above - her rationale for refusing to accept an Indian male for internship DOES appear illogical. While any professor would be concerned for the safety of her students (both male and female), using a wide brush to paint every Indian male as a potential rapist sounds unbecoming of someone of her station. 
 
 
 
 She also comes off as someone with a messiah complex, what with the idea of denying Indian male students opportunities for higher education in Europe as a 'carrot' for social engineering. And a gigantic false consensus bias - as if all European 'female professors' would fall into her line, based on her faulty and illogical presumptuousness. 
 
 
 
 Plus, the whole characterisation of India as a homogenous ''Indian society'' that she feels is unable to solve it's ''rape problem'' is ludicruous - given the diversity of cultures in India AND the concerted efforts by Indians to solve it's so called 'rape problem' (which to be honest, is grossly sensationalised and is nowhere close to the culture of rape and neo-Nazi violence in Germany). Her narrative is also a clear case of a false attribution bias, as she cognitively ascribes the rapes in her country on the rapist, while ascribing rapes in Indian on the men. (In a manner uncannily similar to the demonisation of Jews prior to the Holocaust). 
 
 
 
 However, for the sake of fairness and to arrive at a more pragmatic and balanced perspective, we have to hear her side too. She IS entitled to a benefit of doubt that she has good reasons for saying what she said. In her apology, she insists that she rejected the application because the positions were full and the whole talk on rape was a spin-off, after he kept pestering her. Now THAT's something uncannily familiar. 
 
 
 
 A few unexplained things to chew on: 
 
 
 
 1) Where are the messages that your friend sent to the professor? (This would help establish a clearer context of the conversation). 
 
 
 
 2) The first snapshot shows 3:48 AM and the second one shows 2:37 AM. Without the dates, I can infer that at the very least, 22 hours elapsed between the two messages. Were these the only two messages she sent in this time span or were there more as well? 
 
 
 
 3) In this span of at least 22 hours (or perhaps days), she could have looked up his social networking profiles and found something that piqued her off. Could you provide the links to his social networking profiles or would that be too much to ask for? 
 
 
 
 4) Could she possibly have had to deal with some sexual harassment or assault issues from an Indian man, in her research team? (Which does not justify discrimination but explains it). 
 
 
 
 5) Could she have had some females (Indians or non-Indians) in her research team that influenced her decision? This is a possible scenario, as I have seen first hand, how some Indian (and rarely, non-Indian) women try to ruin it for Indian men. ||||| We ask if the 2012 rape and murder of a New Delhi student changed attitudes in a land that has long favoured its sons. 
 
 The first anniversary of a fatal gang rape in India has been stirring fresh debate on women's rights. 
 
 The savage sexual assault in December 2012 shook the nation, and the world, setting in motion nationwide protests and much soul-searching about attitudes towards women. 
 
 The 23-year-old victim suffered appalling injuries at the hands of six men, after being attacked on a bus while travelling home with a friend. 
 
 I do not feel so unsafe in travelling in busses, or walking, anymore. I have developed confidence in the people around, not much in the security forces but in the people around me … I would say [that] what has happened is that people have come out to the streets … there has been an expression that this cannot go on, and I think that is now contributing to women like me, even younger women, to start to feel a little more confident that they can protest against harassment, and they expect that people will understand and will support. Sehjo Singh, the director of programmes and policy at ActionAid India 
 
 She died 13 days after her terrifying ordeal in India's capital, New Delhi. Prosecutors said it was an assault that shocked India's collective conscience. Women's groups spoke out about what they called a rape epidemic, and a widespread sense of impunity, in the country. 
 
 Four of those convicted were later sentenced to death by hanging. 
 
 The government has since passed tough new laws, carrying a minimum 20-year sentence for rape, and making stalking, voyeurism and sexual harassment a crime. 
 
 Twelve months on, it has also introduced fast-track courts for rape cases, and vigils have been held across the capital. Campaigners, rights activists and supporters prayed and lit candles. But there have been mixed emotions. 
 
 "I don't think things have changed. It's just that women are less fearful of saying what's happening. I still feel scared to go out beyond 11 at night." one woman told Al Jazeera. 
 
 Another protester said: "I am here today because I have a mother, a sister, a sister-in-law, a girlfriend, who are not safe. In the days to come, my wife-to-be will not be safe and neither will my [future] daughter. Because in this country, where a rape occurs every 20 minutes, no woman can be safe." 
 
 But commenting on the new laws, Naresh Agrawal, a leader of India's regional Samajwadi Party, said: "We are not in the favour of this bill. We talk about the safety and security of women, but the way the bill has included stalking, staring and other small crimes to be punishable as non-bailable offences, it seems that the society is being divided by them." 
 
 And Farooq Abdullah, India's new and renewable energy minister, added: "Today we feel scared to even talk to a girl; such is the condition right now. Now I feel none of us is going to employ a female secretary, because god forbids, if such a complaint is lodged against us, we would be imprisoned." 
 
 One of the hopes is that the publicity generated by the 2012 attack will embolden women to speak out. As such, the police say they expect to see a rise in the number of reported cases. 
 
 The National Crime Records Bureau says the number of reported rapes almost doubled from 706 in 2012 to 1,330 in the first nine months of this year, and cases of sexual assault quadrupled in the same period, to 2,844. 
 
 
 
 Looking further back, reported cases of rape rose by more than 50 percent between 2001 and 2012, but the conviction rate dropped from 41 percent to just 24 percent. 
 
 So, one year on, has the shocking rape and murder of a young woman helped change attitudes in a land that has long favoured its sons? Can perceptions casting women as the weaker sex be successfully challenged? And in a land of 1.2 billion people, is real progress being made? 
 
 To discuss this, Inside Story, with presenter Sohail Rahman, is joined by guests: Sehjo Singh, the director of programmes and policy at ActionAid India; Srila Roy, a lecturer in sociology at the University of Nottingham, and author of books on gender violence; and Rajeev Awasthi, a lawyer in India's supreme and high courts. 
 
 "I think after the Delhi rape case there was a tendency ... to talk of it as a specifically Indian problem … media seem to present it as a uniquely Indian problem, or a problem of Indian culture, and then question why are Indian men raping Indian women, and obviously that is a very dangerous discourse, because we all know that violence against women is a global phenomenon … What I would say [is] it isn’t exceptional to the Indian context but in every context." - Srila Roy, a lecturer in sociology at the University of Nottingham 
 
 Source: Al Jazeera
– A German professor has apologized after apparently barring a male Indian student from an internship because of "the rape problem in India." In a now-viral email response to a male student, posted on website Quora, Annette Beck-Sickinger wrote, "I don't accept any Indian male students for internships." The University of Leipzig professor continued, per Time, "We hear a lot about the rape problem in India" and "I have many female students in my group, so this attitude is something I cannot support." Beck-Sickinger tells the Hindustan Times it was a "misunderstanding," but a second student claims the professor also turned down his PhD application, noting she wasn't accepting "any male Indian guests ... due to the severe rape problem in India." Beck-Sickinger argues her comments were taken out of context and the first student was denied an internship because there were "no openings available in the laboratory," CNN reports, per an official statement. She tells the Hindustan Times that the refusal followed an "unpleasant discussion" with the student. "I am by no means racist or xenophobic in any way," she says. "I sincerely apologize to anyone whose feelings I may have hurt." Still, Germany's ambassador to India has blasted Beck-Sickinger's actions in an open letter. "Let me make it clear at the outset that I strongly object to this," Michael Steiner writes. "India is not a country of rapists." He also notes India's "lively, honest, sustained, and very healthy public debate" about sexual assault while slamming Beck-Sickinger's "simplistic image" of Indian people.