The third anniversary of the December 16 gang-rape and murder case is unlikely to bring any closure for the family of the 23-year-old victim as one of the convicted men, who was a juvenile in 2012, will be released.
The brutal case of gang-rape and murder that shook the country three years ago has left Badri Nath and Asha Devi, the parents of the physiotherapy student who was abducted and raped in a moving bus, still looking for answers.
Of the six attackers, one was a 17-year-old boy who according to the Juvenile Justice Act could be given a maximum three-year sentence. He is likely to be released on or just before December 16.
“We will be holding a memorial for our daughter at Jantar Mantar on December 16 and one of her attackers will be out on the streets. What kind of message does this send to our youth? They will think that they can rape or murder before 18 years of age and get away with it,” said Asha Devi, the victim’s mother, while speaking at the Confederation of NCR RWAs (CONRWA) convention here on Sunday.
She appealed to the public to stand with her family in opposing the release of the juvenile. The family has already moved the National Human Rights Commission on the issue. Chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, Swati Maliwal, said Delhiites had woken to the problem of crimes against women after the December 16 case, but there was hardly any fear of law.
She cited Delhi Police data of about 11,000 FIRs of crimes against women in 2014, but only 3,500 of them being converted into chargesheets.
“Of that, only nine have been punished,” she added.
Meanwhile, the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ that was created in the memory of the December 16 victim has not been utilised at all, said Ms. Maliwal.
“Her family wants a forensic lab to be set up with that fund. If the Centre can’t use the fund, it should give it to the States,” she said.
