New Delhi, Dec.16 (ANI): Parents of the 23-year-old woman who was gang raped last December on Monday demanded that the juvenile involved in the gruesome crimebe given tougher punishment.
"Yes, we believe and request the court that the law should be different for such rare and henious cases, and that the guilty should be punished in accordance with the gravity of the crime, regardless of his age," said the victim's mother, Asha.
On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student was gang raped for an hour and tortured with an iron rod on a moving bus in New Delhi.
Six men lured the woman and her male friend onto the bus on the night of December 16, as the duo were 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 the 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.
The case turned a global spotlight on the treatment of women in India, where police say a rape is reported every 20 minutes.
The incident sparked public outrage across India, bringing thousands of people onto the city streets in protest against authorities' failure to ensure the safety of women.
Meanwhile, the victim's mother, Asha, demanded that in such cases, the judgement should come within a stipulated time so that the convicts receive their due punishment and there needs to be separate trial courts to speed up the process.
"Despite one full year, the case has not yet been finalised. In such cases, there should be a definite time period, there should be a separate trial court,so that there is a speedy trial and this is the only right direction for the trial of such cases,"said she.
Hundreds of students and activists blockaded 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 pressure to show 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.
In response to the public outcry, the government also fast-tracked tougher laws against sex crimes, but it resisted calls to change the juvenile law and return the adult age to 16 from 18.
The case led to the introduction of tougher rape laws in March, and for the first time open debates on gender crime were held on television debates and social media.
The new law included a minimum 20-year prison sentence for rape and, in the event the victim dies or reduced to a "vegetative" state, death penalty.
In March, one of the guilty and bus driver, Ram Singh, hanged himself from the ceiling of his prison cell. Officials said he had made a noose from the mat he slept on.
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-months-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 filed a review petition in the Delhi High court against the death penalty, the trial for which is still on.
Earlier this week, India's New and Renewable Energy Minister, Farooq Abdullah faced the ire of the main opposition after he said that under the present circumstances, he would have to think twice before speaking to women and employing female secretaries, as it could lead to harassment charges.
Furthermore, reacting on the same issue, the victim's father, Badri Singh, said that those who make such statements (demeaning women) have never gone through any suffering themselves.
"Those who make such statements (demeaning women)do not realise that they also have parents and they are also born from a woman. Only that person can feel pain who has gone through some sorrow in life. How can a person who has not faced anything like this in life realise the grief of parents, the grief of a daughter and of society? What can I say about this matter?"said Singh.
While the mother of the victim still awaits justice but she also feels positive that women are becoming more active and vigilant which must have made the male crowd a bit wary that such cases will not be left unnoticed but would be immediately reported.
India rarely executes death row prisoners but after the Delhi gang rape case, there has been huge public pressure on the government to hang the guilty.
A law passed in March provides for stricter punishments on gender crimes.It punishes repeat rape offenders with death, criminalises voyeurism and stalking and makes acid attacks, gang rape and trafficking specific offences.
Women rights groups have welcomed the measures but say they do not go far enough, terming them token gestures from a government that is still plagued, like much of Indian society, by patriarchal attitudes.
Newspapers and television news stations have stepped up coverage of gender crimes, social media sites are full of debate and even Bollywood stars and cricketers are joining campaigns to promote womens' safety.
Most sex crimes in India go unreported, many offenders go unpunished, and the wheels of justice turn slowly, according to social activists who say that successive governments have done little to ensure the safety of women.
In New Delhi alone, 643 rape cases were reported up to April 15 this year, up from 179 during the same period in 2012.
Despite stringent laws, girls and women in a largely patriarchal India face a barrage of threats and these include forced marriage, rape, dowry-related murder, domestic violence and also human trafficking.
United Nations figures show that 1.8 in every 100,000 Indian women is a victim of rape and social as well as physical exploitation. (ANI)
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