Yes, there is a major issue with rape and violence in general in India- I recall when the Indian Government reinstituted the death penalty for rape.
The solution is bringing back Jury Trials. The English really were no better than modern India in terms of the appreciation and knowledge of the law under Henry II. Reason we went down this route of a jury of peers is to get everyone accustomed to the laws, being part and parcel to them, and accepting of the verdicts (because people just like them made the verdict).
I understand why India scrapped the jury system, but that is the exact reason why you should have it.
And westerners shouldn't just blindly stumble around India on their furst visit. I got a younger woman interested in philosophy, and she went to India (told her family, not me) and visited old buddhist sites, and one right after a Hindu nationalist bombed it. Then she needed medically evacuated because she decided to become spiritual (but not religious) and adopt a vegetarian diet, and the microbes in India devestated her immune system. This happens to Indian doctors living in the US too long, they return home for a visit and they get sick too.
US has a number of Hindu monasteries of a couple different denominations, I recommend Americans visit those first.