Agreed with the part about Indian men staring A LOT. It does not end there. In addition to the staring, I have been followed around by packs of 20-something young men, as well as being on the receiving end of very crude comments (spoken in languages I couldn't understand, but my Indian companions could). Other Western female friends of mine who have lived in India report many instances of groping on public transportation there, although thankfully I haven't experienced that.

None of this has ever resulted in me being in a dangerous situation, but at the very least it is highly aggravating, at worst menacing and scary. I am not the kind of person that will avoid a country for this sort of thing (I've been to India more than 20x by now, mostly for work), nor do I think that India is truly any more dangerous for women than anyplace else in the world. But it is for sure an unpleasant place to be sometimes if you are female.

FWIW I do not dress provocatively for any culture except perhaps the Taliban's. I disagree completely with the suggestion that simply putting on a salwar kameez will stop the harassment. It's not about what you're wearing. Indian women get treated badly too. It's not for nothing that they have women-only subway and train cars, train waiting rooms, etc.