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Two years after Nirbhaya, the rod is still a weapon of choice!

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Nirbhaya, – the fearless one –  the name that stuck to the brave rape victim of this day two years ago,  departed this brutal and unforgiving world two weeks after the incident on a moving bus in Delhi. Five  men and a minor, raped and horribly brutalized her, without provocation and without subsequent remorse. 

She and a male friend, who was also beaten, were thrown off the bus in a nearly naked state and while the world watched and help arrived late, she suffered ignominy, humiliation, and pain that only a brutalized woman can understand and relate to.

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Nirbhaya’s father, Badrinath speaking to Betwa Sharma of the Huffington post had this to say, on the second anniversary of the gang rape that horrified the world. “People think it gets easier but not a minute goes by when she is not in my thoughts. But we continue living to honor her courage”.

Badrinath, 55, an airport luggage loader, worked additional shifts to ensure his bright daughter pursue her physiotherapy studies. He was proud of her, perhaps even more than he was of his two sons, one who is studying engineering and one in school.  “I had pinned our family’s future on my daughter’s success,” he told the journal.

Post Nirbhaya’s death, Badrinath lives in a middle income flat allotted by the Delhi government in the suburb of Dwarka. The family received  Rs. 35 lakhs in compensation from the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, and his job is now less taxing. He has shifted from luggage loading to making security passes for airport entry.

A stringent law

In the wake of the full scale protests against the government of the day and the system, that erupted after her death, the then UPA government acted surprisingly swiftly, and  in late December 2012, set up the Justice JS Verma committee which included Justice Leila Seth, former judge of the High Court and Gopal Subramanian, former Solicitor General of India to recommend amendments to the Criminal Law so as to provide for quicker trial and enhanced punishment for criminals accused of committing sexual assault against women. 

The Committee worked night and day and made recommendations on laws related to rape, sexual harassment, trafficking, child sexual abuse, medical examination of victims, police, electoral and educational reforms in  February 2013.

These recommendations were accepted in part, and led to the enactment of stringent rape laws and the setting up of fast track courts to deal with cases of sexual assault.

However, it ignored many key suggestions of the commission, such as criminalizing marital rape, reviewing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and trying military personnel accused of sexual offences under criminal law, and barring politicians facing such cases from contesting elections.

Juvenile Justice

All the accused, Vinay Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Ram Singh, and the brothers, Mukesh and Pawan Gupta were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused, Ram Singh, died in police custody on 11 March 2013 in the Tihar Jail.  The police say Ram Singh hanged himself, but defense lawyers and his family suspect he was murdered, though no foul play has been proved.

A fast track court, set up in the wake of the ordinance, on 10th September 2013, found the four adults guilty of rape and murder and  sentenced them to death by hanging. On 13 March 2014, the Delhi High Court upheld the sentences.

The juvenile was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment in a reform facility, a decision that riled the family of the deceased braveheart. Badrinath was concerned that the juvenile was let off lightly, and he approached the Supreme Court to try him as an adult.

In March this year, the Supreme Court rejected Badrinath’s petition for prosecuting the juvenile convicted in the gang rape as an adult.  Meanwhile the Modi government decided to to amend the juvenile law to punish 16- to 18-year-old offenders in heinous crimes as adults (with the exception of the death penalty) – a move opposed by human rights groups.  Badrinath then refiled his petition in the Supreme Court.

“There was nothing child like about what that boy did,” he said. “They do these things because they know the law will protect them from harm.”

Perpetrators families suffer

The families of the four adult perpetrators, are suffering in silence, the misdeeds of their progeny. Vinay Sharma, has a diabetic sister, and the 3000 Rupees he earned helped pay for her medicine. His father also an airport loader, cannot sustain her costs on his income.  The rest of the families, remain ostracized in their neighbourhoods and the ultimate loss of their children to the death penalty weighs heavily on their minds.

Two years on….nothing has changed!

Meanwhile Delhi has not changed feels Badrinath.  “My pain increases every time I hear of another rape. Delhi has not changed,” Badrinath said.

Neither has the country, as everyday brings a new low in human brutality towards women.

At a memorial held in December 2013, the press interviewed a young woman who had taken part in the protests a year earlier. She said, “A welcome change is that the taboo on discussion of rape and sexual violence has been broken,”  however, she saw “absolutely no change in the rape culture and related brutality”.

Read more

Delhi gang rape : Verdict on juvenile accused today

Delhi gang rape,accused were not in bus?

Juvenile found guilty Delhi gangrape-murder case

Delhi gang-rape case,Juvenile Board likely to pronounce judgment

Delhi gang-rape case verdict expected today

Delhi gang-rape verdict: Four convicted

Delhi HC upholds death sentences in Dec 16 gang-rape

Delhi gang rape: SC extends stay on death sentence of two convicts

Nirbhaya Centre to come up in all districts for women affected by violence

Nurse who treated ‘Nirbhaya’, gangraped in Punjab

Delhi gang rape : HC allows media to cover trial in fast track court


 

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