My child got justice, but many more await: Mother Asha Devi

Asha Devi (C), the mother of a gang-rape victim, reacts after the convicts of her daughter's case were hanged in New Delhi on March 20, 2020. Pic/AFP

Eight years have gone by, the culprits were punished earlier this year. Everyone, including the media and the society supported us fully but still such incidents are happening and there are many families whose daughters have not got justice yet.

Nirbhaya got justice but I would like to tell all the mothers who are awaiting justice for their daughters that we shall have faith in our judicial system.

When this incident happened with me, I was terrified, hesitant, angry thinking my daughter has already died. Later I realised that justice was the least that we could give our daughter.

So I will tell you all, do no be hesitant because such culprits need to be punished.

Though the sentence was confirmed by all the three levels of judiciary but it still took eight years to get them hanged. So we shall also address the loopholes in our system and push for a change.

The brutal gang-rape and murder of a physiotherapy student on December 26, 2012, which shook the conscience of the nation before gathering dust for several years, came to an end on March 20 this year after the hanging of the four convicts in the case.

Of the six, there were four -- Vinay, Akshay, Pawan and Mukesh -- who were executed at 5:30 a.m. on March 20, more than seven years after the crime took place in the heart of the national capital.

The brutal sexual assault was an example of the brazenness of these criminals who did not spare a thought that they were attacking another human. They had all but snuffed the life out of her, but the light was not extinguished from her soul and knowing my daughter that she was she fought till her last breath.

We wished the culprits were punished immediately, but that was not to be, it took years and many battles but it finally was achieved.

She was 23. Studying physiotherapy -- still a student with dreams in abundance in her eyes -- when she had walked out of the house that final time -- we never knew how our world would change forever.

The darkness, and pain, and sheer loss of hope was a tunnel we thought we will never cross. But our country's judicial system, our police and all those doctors who kept her alive for a few more days were in this fight with us.

Suddenly, one day she was no more just my daughter -- but India's Nirbhaya, whom six men wanted to spoil and kill on December 16, 2012 in a moving bus.

For 13 days, she fought like a tigress, without parts of her bodies that had to be removed, I can not stop shivering inside my very soul when I recall every waking hour her pain.

The attackers inserted rod inside her vagina and ripped her intestines apart. The brutality of the crime shook the nation to the core, leading to wide-spread protests.

Drastic changes that were made to the country's rape laws hope will save others. Hope devils in man's shape will one day stop. One day something will stop them.

(The Delhi Police expedited the case and arrested all the convicts, including a juvenile, within a few days of the incident. The case of the minor accused was transferred to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).

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