By Mahuya Santra
At last justice delivered. At 2:30pm on 13th September, 2013 .The Saket District Court in Delhi sentenced four men to death for the brutal gang rape and murder of 23 year old Physiotherapy student on a moving bus in Delhi on 16th December, 2012.
In his justification the Judge Yogesh Khanna said: “Inhuman acts of torture before death had not only shocked the collective conscience but calls for withdrawal of the protective arm of the community around the convicts.”
Six people had not only raped the woman, they ripped apart her abdomen with an iron rod and pulled out her organs after beating up her male friend. Then they threw them out of the bus. The man survived but the girl succumbed to her heavy injuries. The brutality and the diabolical nature of the crime stormed the nation. The Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh had to make an appeal to the nation for calm. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi personally went to meet the victim’s mother and assured justice. Police arrested the six accused. Trial started at the First Track court. One of the men accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail. One was tried in a Juvenile Court and sentenced with three years imprisonment. The remaining four were given death sentence. The Indian court does not allow for the names of rape victims to be made public. The nation calls her Nirbhaya. It means “brave heart”.
This ghastly attack shook the nation because it happened in Delhi where it got widely reported. But what will happen to other women who are raped and tortured everyday in the remote villages and go unnoticed. According to the government statistics in India, a woman is raped every 22 minutes on average. With response to the barbaric Delhi rape case, the government passed tougher anti rape laws which introduced death penalty for repeat offenders and life imprisonment for acid attacks, human trafficking and stalking. But a number of organisations working on women’s issues are of the opinion that capital punishment has not deterred the capital crime. Unless and until the long – held mindset and outlook of the society towards women changes, the violence against women will not stop. Time has come for the women to treat rape as just any other kind of assault. No sense of humiliation, embarrassment or self blame should be spared so that rape as an instrument to torture becomes blunt. Amidst the nationwide debate and argument one silver lining is being observed. According to the police, 1121 rape cases were registered in Delhi in the first eight months of this year which is the highest in the last 13 years and more than double from last year’s figure of 468 of the same period. It clearly shows that women are rightly building the courage to come forward and report such cases.
Let’s have a glance at the statistical record of the numbers of registered rape cases in Delhi as provided by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) in India.
