The following text is for questions 77 to 78.

    She was an orphaned adivasi, a tribal girl, and she performed the most menial of jobs to put bread in her belly. She collected cow dung with her bare hands, shaped it into patties, slapped them on walls to dry and then sold them as fuel. It's a sight and smell familiar to me. I used to watch women in my Kolkata neighborhood do the same thing, using the back wall of my grandfather's house. I couldn't imagine plunging my hand into piles of animal waste.

    But rape knows no boundaries of class or culture. After it happened, she might as well have worn a scarlet letter on her chest. Such was the stigma of rape in India then. She was brave to speak out and did what few women back then did. She took her case to court.

    But the highest court of the land did not believe she was telling the truth. The justices overturned the convictions of her attackers, two police constables who maintained their innocence, and set them free.

    Her case was monumental, both from a social and legal perspective. It sparked public protest for the first time about rape in India and led to the reform of sexual assault laws. It gave rise to a women's movement in India, sprouting a host of groups dedicated to empowering women. At last, people here bega n to see gender-based violence for what it real ly is: a brutal act of power.

Which of the following best states the topic of this text?