Nirbhaya's mother recounts her over seven years struggle in fighting legal battle

On 16th December 2012, our country witnessed a horrifying assault that uncovered concrete reality relating to the safety of women in India. It was on this day when a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was gang-raped so brutally in a moving bus in Delhi that she died a few days later while undergoing treatment in Singapore.

The incident took the entire nation by storm. People from all around the country erupted in protests in several parts of the country. Shortly, all six convicts including bus driver (Ram Singh) and the sole juvenile assailant were taken into police custody.

Ram Singh was found hanging in Tihar Jail on 11th March, 2013, while the juvenile was given a three-year term at a probation home. After over seven years the commission of the horrifying crime, the remaining four convicts in the case were sent to the gallows in Delhi’s Tihar Jail on 20th March, 2020.

The 23-year-old victim was also known as Nirbhaya. On the ninth anniversary of the gruesome act, Nirbhaya's mother gave an account of her more than seven years of struggle in fighting legal battle, which eventually came to an end with the hanging of the four convicts.

While speaking to the Mirror Now, Nirbhaya’s mother stated the government has not done enough to ensure the safety of women in India. A prolonged legal action is one of the main reasons behind crime against women, she said.

In relation to the public outburst following the ghastly crime in 2012, Nirbhaya’s mother, who has been working towards improving women’s condition, said that after her daughter became a victim, she thought that things would get better, but the government did not work.

Nirbhaya mother also focused attention on violence against women that has been taking place at an alarming rates. She further highlighted how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the working of the country’s judiciary and influenced the delivery of justice to victims. “After the pandemic, courts started working online and perpetrators were often let out owing to COVID-19,” she said.

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