Ten years after the brutal gangrape and murder of a young paramedic student in Delhi, nothing has changed for the women of the national capital, her parents said.
On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the incident on Thursday, Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi said more sexual assault survivors are speaking up now.
“In the last 10 years, we do not think anybody except Nirbhaya got justice. No change has come,” she said.
Her husband, Badri Narayan Singh, lamented that women are not safe even today.
“Criminals are continuously committing crime,” he told PTI.
However, one positive change that has come about after the December 16 incident is that more sexual assault survivors are now speaking out, Devi said.
The physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as ‘Nirbhaya’ (fearless), was sexually assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012. She died a fortnight later.
Six people, including a juvenile, were named as accused.
While the juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home, 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.
Two minor girls were raped every day last year in the national capital, which was the most unsafe metropolitan city for women across the country, according to NCRB data.
Delhi also recorded 13,892 cases of crimes against women in 2021, a significant surge of more than 40 per cent compared to 2020 when the figure was 9,782, the data showed.
Barely two days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Nirbhaya incident, a 17-year-old girl was attacked with acid by two masked motorcycle-borne men in west Delhi’s Mohan Garden with police arresting the three accused in connection with the incident.
When asked about the attack, Nirbhaya’s father said, “When young girls face such attacks, it is sad. What was her fault? She was going to school. Her life has been spoilt”.
The parents further said they are still haunted by the memories of the incident and what their daughter has to suffer before succumbing to injuries.
“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,” Devi said.
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