The deceased victim’s mother received the ‘Rani Lakshmibai Award’ from President Pranab Mukherjee
“Awards and recognitions for my daughter and what she has come to represent fills my heart with the hope that violence against girls and women will see a rapid decline in the country,” said the father of the December 16 gang rape victim at a function at Vigyan Bhavan here on Friday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the national Stree Shakti Puraskar 2012 award ceremony, where his deceased daughter was honoured with the ‘Rani Lakshmibai Award’, he said, “While there are enough laws in the country to ensure that women are protected, there has to be effective implementation of these laws and enough personnel to ensure efficiency.”
The award presented by the President Pranab Mukherjee was received by the deceased victim’s mother.
Five other distinguished women – Ms. Pranita Talukdar (Assam), Ms. Sonika Agarwal (Delhi), Ms. Guramma H. Sankina (Karnataka), Ms. Omana T.K. (Kerala) and Ms. Olga D’mello (Maharashtra) — were given awards.
The victim’s father momentarily lost his composure after the ceremony was over and holding his elder son’s hand said, “Sadly, awards and money cannot bring my child back. I miss her every minute. My heart burns, I am unable to close my eyes and rest… we welcome and thank the nation for standing with us in this moment of grief. We are simple people and our demand is simple. Hang the men — even the juvenile — who tortured and killed my young daughter in this horrible manner.”
While his son nodded in agreement, the victim’s mother refused to speak.
In his address on the occasion, the President, recalling the December 16 incident and spontaneous outpour of the general public, said, “We should not allow this death to go in vain and should work towards ensuring that such incidents never happen again in India.”
“We have to work towards bringing in reforms in the police and judiciary to ensure a just society where there is justice for women,” he added.
Keywords: Delhi gang-rape victim, violence against women
Media frenzy is the ONLY reason why this girl has been given attributes like "Breaveheart" , "daughter of India" & now she is the "Jhansi Rani Laxmi bai".
I humbly differ from this media frenzy created in favor of 1 rape victim when a woman (man goes unreported) is raped every 20 minutes in country.
It is feudal mentality of India which hails & praises when a woman is ready to die while trying to save her 'Izzat'. That means, if a woman gets raped, she is no more deserves 'Izzat' from society.
Whatever bravery she showed, was that enough to save her life??
Could not have she allowed the rapists to commit a 'less-violent' rape which could at least kept her alive??
The victims family is given special or unnecessary attention because of media hype. There are thousands of victims and their families suffering because of violence cases in India . Many of them are unreported or ignored in due course of time .Ideally family of the victim should reject any such government favors and should demand for only justice , also should desist from releasing public statements daily . It seems the family too is en cashing her death. Frankly, Can anyone tell me why the victim is called braveheart/Nirbhaya etc and has been honored by various political circles including US government ? Yes, Indeed she suffered a lot and met unfortunate fate after struggle for life but everyone in her position would go through it . Unfortunately millions of children who meet the safe fate across the world. They all are victims. Period . She succeeded in attracting public attention against such brutlity because of media hype and public support instead of her efforts .
"Rani Laxmi Bai award is given to recognize the spirit of courage and
the personal achievement of a woman in difficult circumstances, who
has established this spirit of courage in her individual or
professional life."
No matter she has suffered a lot due to the ineffectiveness of govt
and pathetic condition of our society. But where is the bravery in her
case ? She was a victim of a brutal rape case but in our country we
have more than 20,000 reported rape cases every year so by this each
and every victim should get a bravery award.
Giving an award to her is another method of govt to erase its failure
and a cover up for other cases. Having a day where we have speeches,
award functions is not going to help for the uplift women. Instead
better law enforcement, more security for girls and special
consideration for crime against women with some harsh punishment for
wrongdoers will help.
I praise the GOI's step to honour her But a simple question that came to
my mind instantly after going through this news is "What about
others(other rape victims)?" .SAD. They can give awards but can they
give us a fear free society?
What the government should do is implement Justice Verma committee's suggestions. Instead they are trying to shed crocodile tears and pacify Indians who are enraged due to inefficiency of this utterly weak-kneed government. It seems to me as if satisfying the Lok Sabha comes ahead of satisfying the people in its agenda. Would Nirbhaya's (name christened to the victim by the media) family really care if their child were given an award? Would the nation care? No, I don't think so; not if nothing is done to prevent another Nirbhaya..
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