On 16th of December 2012 in Munirka , a native place of south Delhi took an horrific incident which shocked the nation widely and this was the NIRBHAYA CASE which got the nations over-crowd onto it . On 16th Dec 2012 in the night around 10pm-11pm this horrific incident happened which took the government to take serious concern about the rape victims and the culprits to be punished seriously than the other times in previous history of the constitution.
The incident took place as victim and one of her friend Awindra Pratap Pandey were coming back to house after watching a movie named ‘Life of Pie’ , and in the route they boarded a bus for returning back to their house but Awindra(friend of the victim) got suspicious when the bus didn’t took the normal route and instead the door were shut off , the victim and her friend were asked about why they are so late in night outside by the culprits.
The culprits were 6 in numbers and there was an juvenile also who asked for the passengers on the bus stop from were the victim and her friend boarded the bus for the house. During the travelling there was moment happened in which friend of the victim was beaten up by the culprits as due to the resistance done by him when the culprits did some harassments to the victim and the friend of her.
Those curlprits then dragged the victim to the rear of the bus and they she was been rapped by all the 6 persons and the medical reports also shows that she was penetrated by some hard object (like iron rod) which was later taken in custody by the police officers during the investigation.
After the rape the victim and her friend were thrown out of the moving bus and were founded on the road around 11pm , from where later the victims were taken to the Safdarjung Hospital where the girl victim were kept on the medical ventilator and she got some gracious injuries which later resulted in the death of the rape victim. These gracious injuries were injury marks, including numerous bite marks, all over her body .
One of the reports says that on of the curlprit has accepted that he had saw an rope like structure is being pulled out of the body of the victim which later was confirmed in the medical report that she got injuries in the massive damage to her genitals, uterus and intestine which had been penetrated by the iron rod which after been examined by the medical expertise was confirmed.
In conflict to the real name as the Indian Penal Code does not allows the real name of the victim to be published the case took attention through many synonymous names like NIRBHAYA, DAMINIE, DELHI BRAVEHEART, JYOTI, AMANAT and JAGRUTI.
The former minister Shashi Tharur asked the father of the victim for publishing the name as to create some strong laws for other rape victims and later her father also agreed for it as he said that if any law could be made as to strengthen the laws present at that time for the rape victims it would be appreciated .
During a protest against release of a juvenile on 16th dec. 2015 the victims’ mother said that her daughters name was jyoti singh and she did nothing wrong as they should be shame of instead she died in protecting herself from the animals. The friend of the victim is an software engineer and is working in Delhi only.
MEDICAL TREATMENT AND DEATH
- On 19th dec. she got her fifth surgery in which she were removed from her remaining intestine.
- On 21 December, the government appointed a committee of doctors to ensure she received the best medical care.
- By 25 December, she remained incubated, on life support and in critical condition.
- On 26 December, the decision was taken to fly her to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore for further care.
- During the six-hour flight by air-ambulance to Singapore on 27 December, NIRBHAYA suddenly went into a “near collapse”, which a later report described as a cardiac arrest. The doctors on the flight created an arterial line to stabilize her, but she had been without pulse and blood pressure for nearly three minutes and never regained consciousness in Singapore.
- On 28 December, at 11 am (IST), her condition was extremely critical. The chief executive officer of the Mount Elizabeth Hospital said that the victim suffered brain damage, pneumonia, and abdominal infection, and that she was “fighting for her life.”
- She died at 4:45 am on 29 December, Singapore.
ARRESTS
- Police on surveillance identified a bus which as being contracted by a South Delhi private school. They then traced it and found its driver, Ram Singh. Police obtained sketches of the assailants with the help of the male victim, and used a mobile phone stolen from the two victims to find one of the assailants.
- Six men were arrested in connection with the incident includes RAM SINGH and his brother Mukesh Singh, who were both arrested in Rajasthan, Vinay Sharma, an assistant gym instructor, and Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller, were both arrested in UP and Bihar, A seventeen-year-old juvenile from Badayun, Uttar Pradesh arrested from the ANAND VIHAR TERMINAL who met the others on that day only whereas the last culprit was arrested was Akshay Thakur, who had come to Delhi seeking employment, was arrested in Aurangabad.
Shortly after the attacks, Pawan Gupta said he accepted his guilt and should be hanged. Mukesh Singh, who was placed in Tihar Jail after his arrest, was assaulted by other inmates and was kept in solitary confinement for his own protection. Later Ram singh was found hanging in his own cell which he use to share with 3 other prisoners which yet not confirmed whether it was murder or suicide.
TRIAL
- The male victim, Awindra Pratap Pandey, testified in court on 19 December 2012. Pandey recorded his statement with a sub-divisional magistrate at the Safdarjung Hospital on 21 December, in the presence of the Deputy Commissioner of police.
- Public outrage and a demand for a speedy trial and prosecution, on 24 December, the police promised to file the charge sheet within one week.
- The first of the five approved fast-track courts was inaugurated on 2 January 2013 by Altamas Kabir, Chief Justice of India, in Saket court complex in South Delhi.
- On 24 December, two Assistant Commissioners of Police were suspended for failing to prevent the gang rape incident.
- The juvenile defendant, whose name was Mohammad Afroz according to some reports . And also known as “Raju,” was declared as 17 years and six months old on the day of the crime by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), which relied on his birth certificate and school documents.
- The JJB rejected a police request for a bone ossification (age determination) test for a positive documentation of his age.
- On 28 January 2013, the JJB determined that he would not be tried as an adult. A petition moved by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy seeking the prosecution of the minor as an adult because of the extremely violent nature of his alleged crime was rejected by the JJB. The minor was tried separately in a juvenile court.
- A verdict in the case was scheduled to be announced on 25 July,but was deferred until 5 August and then deferred again to 19 August. On 31 August, he was convicted of rape and murder under the Juvenile Justice Act and given the maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment in a reform facility, inclusive of the eight months he spent in remand during the trial.
- The juvenile was released on 20 December 2015. Prior to his release the Delhi women and children development department was planning to give him a one-time assistance with a cash amount ₹10,000 and a sewing machine. Post his release it was reported that he was working as a cook.
- Five days after Jyoti’s death, on 3 January 2013, the police filed charges against the five adult men for rape, murder, kidnapping, destruction of evidence, and the attempted murder of the woman’s male companion. Senior lawyer Dayan Krishnan was appointed as the special public prosecutor. Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta denied the charges.
- On 10 January, one of their lawyers, Manohar Lal Sharma, said in a media interview that the victims were responsible for the assault because they should not have been using public transportation and, as an unmarried couple, they should not have been on the streets at night.
- He went on to say: “Until today I have not seen a single incident or example of rape with a respected lady. Even an underworld don would not like to touch a girl with respect.” He also called the male victim “wholly responsible” for the incident because he “failed in his duty to protect the woman”.
- The four surviving adult defendants went on trial in a fast-track court. The prosecution presented evidence including witness statements, the victim’s statement, fingerprints, DNA testing, and dental modelling. It completed its case on 8 July.
CONVICTION
- On 10th of September 2013, the four adult defendants were found guilty of rape, murder, unnatural offences and destruction of evidence. All four men faced the death penalty, and demonstrators outside the courthouse called for the hanging of the defendants.
- Judge Yogesh Khanna rejected pleas for a lesser sentence saying the case has “shocked the collective conscience of India” and that “courts cannot turn a blind eye to such crimes.”
- On 13th of March 2014, the Delhi High Court found all the defendants guilty of rape, murder, unnatural offences and destruction of evidence. With the verdict, the High Court confirmed death sentence for all four men convicted in September 2013.
- The court noted that the crime, which stirred widespread protests over sexual crimes against women in the country, fell into the judicial system’s “rarest of rare category” that allows capital punishment.
- On 15th of March 2014, the Supreme Court of India stayed the execution of two of the four convicts, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta, to allow them to make their appeal against their conviction on 31 March. This was further extended by the court to the second week of July.
- After that On 2 June, the two other convicts, Sharma and Thakur, also asked the Supreme Court to stay their execution to allow them to make an appeal of their convictions.
- Their execution was also stayed by Supreme Court on 14th of july. On 27 August 2015, Vinay, Akshay, Mukesh and Pawan were convicted of robbing Ram Adhar and were later sentenced to 10-years imprisonment.
- On 5th of May 2017, the Supreme Court rejected the convicts’ appeal and saying they had committed “a barbaric crime” that had “shaken society’s conscience,” the court upheld the death sentence of the four who had been charged in the murder. The verdict was well received by the family of the victim and the civil society.
- According to legal experts, the convicts still had the right to file a review petition to the Supreme Court. On 9 July 2018, the Supreme Court rejected a review petition by three of the convicts.
This was the case which sought the international attention and thus shacked the world through its gracious act. The American embassy released a statement on 29 December 2012, offering their condolences to Nirbhaya’s family and stated “we also recommit ourselves to changing attitudes and ending all forms of gender-based violence, which plagues every country in the world”.
Nirbhaya was posthumously awarded one of the 2013 International Women of Courage Awards of the US State Department. The citation stated that “for millions of Indian women, her personal ordeal, perseverance to fight for justice, and her family’s continued bravery is helping to lift the stigma and vulnerability that drive violence against women.”
The crime of rape became a capital offence in India following the rape. Indian politician Mulayam Singh Yadav opposed this change in the law, saying that “Boys will be boys. Boys commit mistakes”. Two years later, in response to these comments and another incident of rape that took place in Uttar Pradesh where Yadav’s party was governing, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said “We say no to the dismissive, destructive attitude of, ‘Boys will be boys'”., and stated, “Violence against women must never be accepted, never excused, never tolerated.
Every girl and woman has the right to be respected, valued and protected”. UN Women called on the Government of India and the Government of Delhi “to do everything in their power to take up radical reforms, ensure justice and reach out with robust public services to make women’s lives more safe and secure”.
Following the incident the government set up the Nirbhaya Fund to address violence against women. The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry. However, as of March 2015, very little of the funds have been spent to ensure women’s safety.
The government responded with the passage of several new sexual assault laws, including a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years for gang rape, and six new fast-track courts created solely for rape prosecutions. As an indicator of the scope of the problem of rape prosecution, the “Nirbhaya” case was the only conviction obtained among the 706 rape cases filed in New Delhi in 2012.
Between 16 December 2012 and 4 January 2013, Delhi police recorded 501 allegations of harassment and 64 of rape, but only four inquiries were launched. However, it appears that the “Nirbhaya” case has had an effect on the willingness of rape or molestation victims to report the crime; police records show that during the final nine months of 2013 almost twice as many rape victims filed a police report and four times as many allegations of molestation were made.
A recent report released by the National Crime Records Bureau shows that 95 percent of the cases brought to the police were classified as a crime. However, there is a large backlog of cases with fewer than 15 percent of those charged tried in 2012, leaving 85 percent waiting to come to trial. In December 2013, the family of the victim along with social entrepreneur Sarvesh Kumar Tiwari established the Nirbhaya Trust, an institute formed to assist women who have experienced violence to find shelter and legal assistance .
Indian law does not allow publishing the name of a rape victim so it was named Nirbhaya, meaning fearless. The victim’s father stated, “So many people supported us, so we want to help those girls who have no one.
