10 years to the day of that brutal gangrape passed . Nirbhaya – the most rarest and inhuman case -nobody dares to revisit the unimaginable incident that had shaken the humanity 10 years ago .
On December 16, 2012 , the physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as ‘Nirbhaya’ (fearless), was sexually assaulted , beaten, gang raped, and tortured in a running bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012. Nirbhaya was brutally injured in her abdomen, intestines and genitals and the Supreme Court later confirmed the insertion of iron rods in the private parts of the victim fortified by the scientific evidence and her dying declaration.
She died a fortnight later. Her death triggered mass protests nationwide questioning the safety of women and girls in the nation and in the capital city itself .
The brutal inhuman crime was committed by six people including a juvenile.
The juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home and four convicts were hanged on March 20, 2020. Ram Singh, the sixth accused, allegedly killed himself in Tihar Jail days after the trial began in the case.
There was severe public outrage and raging protests nationwide and the government was under tremendous pressure to take immediate action on the demonic culprits .
A high-level committee, the Verma Committee, led by the former Chief of Justice of India, Justice JS Verma, was formed.
The courts’ discretion to give rapists a sentence lesser than the minimum of seven years was abolished. Separate punishments for repeat offenders were also introduced, including the possibility of the death sentence. These recommendations were all introduced into the Indian Penal Code (IPC) through the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 2013. The government brought about harsher penalties for rapists and the death penalty for repeat offenders.
The horrible memories of the Nirbhaya incident still haunts the parents of the victim. As this day marks 10 years of the incident on Thursday, Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi said that more sexual assault survivors are coming out and raising their voice .
“In the last 10 years, we do not think anybody except Nirbhaya got justice. No change has come,” Asha Devi said.
Although ten years have passed , but crimes against women still continues to haunt India , the latest being the Shraddha Walkar’s Brutal Murder case also just merely two days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Nirbhaya incident, a 17-year-old girl was attacked with acid by two unknown masked men on bike in west Delhi’s Mohan Garden .
According to Deccan Herald, 4,28,278 cases of crimes against women were registered in 2021, up by 56,775 since 2020 as per data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
While questioning the authorities , Asha Devi, mother of Nirbhaya was quoted saying , “People say that time heals everything, but the pain has not gone away. Nobody knows how long will young girls continue to face such situations,” she said, while hitting out at authorities. “I don’t think any change has come. Even today, we are in the same situation as 2012.”
