On 16 December 2012 the infamous Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved a rape and fatal assault took place in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi.
AMN / NEW DELHI
On the 11th anniversary of dreaded Nirbhya case today the Delhi Commission for Women DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal said that nothing has changed in the past decade and crimes against women in Delhi , they have only gone up.
A brutal gang-rape and assault case that stirred an outpouring of anger and grief, followed by the passage of several new sexual assault laws in the country. A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as “Nirbhaya (the fearless one)”, was raped and assaulted by six men inside a bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012, before being thrown out of the moving vehicle. She died from her injuries on December 29 in Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where she was flown by air-ambulance.
“At the time of the incident, people came out onto the streets to seek change. But despite years after that tragedy, we stand at the same place. Crimes against women are increasing day by day. Nothing will change until the criminals are scared that the system would not spare them for such crimes,” she added.
The Delhi Commission for Women chairperson called for certainty and swiftness in punishments and said governments should take such sensitive cases “seriously”.”We need certainty and swiftness in punishments and such matters need to be taken seriously by governments. Police strength and (the number of) fast-track courts should be increased. We need a system where justice is assured swiftly and systematically,” Maliwal said.
“Every December 16, politicians talk big about bringing change but (those are) all in vain,” she claimed.Of the six men accused in the case, Ram Singh allegedly committed suicide in jail, days after the trial began. A juvenile accused was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home.The other four — Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) — were convicted. They were hanged in Tihar Jail on March 20, 2020.