Marking the first anniversary of the gruesome gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi on Monday, people across the city performed prayers, lit candles and held rituals to pay tribute to the deceased. On the fateful night of December 16, 2012 six men had lured the hapless woman, a trainee physiotherapist, and her male friend onto the bus while the duo was on their way home after watching a movie at a shopping mall in south Delhi.
As the bus drove through the streets of the capital, the men repeatedly raped the girl and penetrated her with a metal bar before dumping her and her friend, naked and semi-conscious, onto the road. Her friend later recovered, but the woman”s internal injuries were so severe that she died in a Singapore hospital two weeks after the attack.
Observing the anniversary of the assault, students of various schools in Delhi gathered at Dilli Haat (a popular Delhi hangout spot) and offered flowers and painted woman figures to pay their tributes to the brave heart. One of the students, Rashi, said the incident has led to women not shying away from raising their voice against the crime but there’s a lot that still needs to be done.
“I think we should see this as a positive impact on our society that now women are more willing and ready to come forward. I believe what needs to change now is that the government adopts a victim centered approach. I believe we need to keep the victim at the heart of the investigation or relief provided to her.
I think the victim needs to be the sole reason for implementing laws and for implementing legislation,” she said. The 2012 incident sparked riots and led to public outrage across India, bringing thousands of people onto the city streets in protest against authorities” failure to ensure women’s safety. It also led to changes in laws designed to penalise rape and sexual assault in India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also did their bit on Monday as they organised a fire ritual in New Delhi to pray for the peace of the woman’s soul. A participant at the fire ritual, Kamla Devi, said the women should come forward and take responsibility for their safety and security. “We think that the law should be changed and the culprits should be hanged. After the Delhi gang rape incident, we feel unsafe and we feel that such incidents are increasing day by day.
We feel that where the police and the government are incapable of providing security, women should come forward for their safety,” said Devi. The case turned a global spotlight on the treatment of women in India, where police say a rape is reported every 20 minutes. However, even after one year of the tragic incident and enactment of stringent laws, India is struggling to tame violence against women and change the chauvinistic attitude of men. Over the last one year, hundreds of students and activists blocked roads in New Delhi and marched to the President”s house, breaking through police barricades despite water-cannon fire to demand the culprits” execution. Under immense pressure by the public to show quick results, the government set up a special “fast-track” court to try the then accused men quickly in a country where rape trials tend to congest courts for five to 10 years. Expressing their solidarity for the cause, people in Delhi came out in droves and lit candles at the bus stand where the tragic incident took place.
A supporter, Kanika, expressed dissatisfaction over the steps taken by the government and concerned authorities about women safety so far. “If we talk about change, then few people have become aware. But if I talk about change in the laws, I am not satisfied with it. It is not enough if you announce 181 as a helpline and make a few promises; you have not guaranteed us that you will provide us security,” she said. The 2012 case led to the introduction of tougher rape laws, and for the first time open debates about gender crime were held on television and social media.
The new law included a minimum 20-year prison sentence for rape and, in the event of the death of the victim or is reduced to a “vegetative” state, death penalty. In March, the bus driver, Ram Singh, who was one of the guilty, hanged himself in the prison while another guilty, a teenager, was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention in August this year, after being tried separately.
Finally, on September 13, after a nine-month-long trial, bus cleaner Akshay Kumar Singh, gym instructor Vinay Sharma, fruit-seller Pawan Gupta, and unemployed Mukesh Singh, were handed the death penalty by a New Delhi court. The four adult convicts have filed a review petition in the Delhi High court against the death penalty, the trial for which is still on. India has a clutch of powerful women politicians including Sonia Gandhi, the chief of the ruling Congress party and arguably the country”s most powerful lawmaker. But the realities for many Indian women stand in grim contrast as the discrimination against girls and female foeticide are common. (ANI)