On the occasion of the 11th anniversary of the Nirbhaya gang rape incident, the father of the victim expressed sorrow over the apparent lack of changes in the country’s approach to women’s safety.
He said that while the Narendra Modi government has achieved historic milestones, it falls short in addressing women’s safety and curbing cruelty against them.
The assault occurred on December 16, 2012, when a 23-year-old physiotherapy trainee, known as Nirbhaya, was raped and mutilated by six men inside a moving bus in South Delhi. She succumbed to her injuries on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
In a tribute to his daughter in his village in Ballia district, Nirbhaya’s father reflected on the unchanged status quo, stating, “Eleven years after the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder, nothing has changed in the country, and even today daughters and women are not safe.”
He demanded reform in the functioning of the police system, saying that merely changing laws would not suffice. He said, “The first instinct of the police is to cover up the crime,” and added, “Today, the situation is such that whenever any incident of cruelty occurs, the police first start covering up the matter and suppressing it.”
Nirbhaya’s father called attention to the advantage criminals gain with expensive, well-known lawyers while decrying the lackluster representation from government lawyers on the victim’s side. He said, “Criminals get represented by expensive well-known lawyers and get acquittal. On the other hand, there is poor advocacy by the government lawyer from the victim’s side.”
