ranjana kumari heads the delhi-based center for social research, which advocates on a number of women issues. the incident dominated the headlines and touched a nerve across this vast country. >> we saw so much >> we saw so much of brutality, six men brutalizing this girl beyond anybody's imagination-- and here is this system, which did not respond. >> sreenivasan: national crime records show a woman in india is raped every 20 minutes. kumari says perhaps one in ten cases of rape is actually reported, with minimal consequence. >> look, there are 95,000 cases of rape pending at different levels of the court system. we know that seven to nine years it takes to get a conviction. three out of four perpetrators just go scot-free. >> sreenivasan: the criminal justice system is beholden to corrupt political leaders, says kiran bed she was one of the country's top police officials before retiring three years ago. >> if you are a nobody, then the law is heavy on you. but if you're somebody, then the law is very alert, very selective on you. >> sreenivasan: not only are politicians indifferent

the center for social research's kumari sees one more positive development, that's a consequence of india's growing and urbanizing middle class. more girls are going to school. >> as i said, india is full of contradictions, on the one side you see women in the villages, still very disempowered. but on the other side there's a brighter picture, where we have a large numb of doctors, lawyers, professionals, the education level is going up for girls. when you look at the new economy, girls have got a lot of new opportunities, you know. media, i.t. industry. banking and entertainment. whichever sector you see, women are filling the ranks in a very major way. >> counseling center client puja never set foot in a school but she wants an education for her daughters and that's why she says she needs her husband's help to provide it. >> translator: women are progressing more in society and i need the support of their father so that they can grow up in a proper family. so that they can get a good education, so that they can grow up and have good marriages. >> she'll have an uphill battle, socially if

the center for social research's kumari has also seen one development. more girls are going to school. >> india's full of contradictions. on the one side you see women in the villages still very disempowered but on the other side there's a brighter picture. we have largest number of doctors, lawyers, professionals, our education level is going up for the girls. women are filling the ranks in a very major way. >> reporter: this counseling center client says she wants an education for her daughters, that's why she's pursuing the uphill battle to stay married. >> ( translated ): women are progressing more in society and i need the support of their father so that they can grow up in a proper family, so that they can get a good education, so that they can grow up and have good marriages. >> reporter: the best dowry for a young bride she and many others say is an education. the attacks of september 11 sparked a revolution of sorts at >> woodruff: a version of fred's story aired on the pbs program "religion and ethics newsweekly." his reporting is a partnership