Sunday, December 28, 2025
ADVT 
India

Nirbhaya's Parents Await Justice, Say Don't ‘Feel Like Voting’ This Time

Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Apr, 2019 08:59 PM

    As campaigning picks up steam in Delhi with leaders motivating people to exercise their franchise, Asha Devi and Badri Nath Singh, the parents of the woman who was gangraped and killed and came to be known as Nirbhaya, say they might not vote this time at all.


    The couple, the face of courage in the face of impossible odds, said they are tired of parties promising them justice and doing nothing about it.


    The sympathy expressed by the parties and their promises have been just a "political gimmick" as the culprits are still alive, said the parents of the paramedic student who was gangraped on the night of December 16, 2012, and died of her grievous injuries 11 days later in a Singapore hospital.


    The streets, the couple added, continue to be unsafe for the city's women and children.


    Successive governments have not done enough to implement measures for the safety of women and children who continue to be "victims of bestiality", they alleged.


    "CCTV cameras are yet to be installed... the country is still unsafe, mothers still worry till their daughters return home.


    "People have no faith in the system. All the governments have failed us. I don't feel like voting for any party this time," Asha Devi told.


    It has been seven years since her daughter was raped and murdered brutally but the judgment of the death sentence is yet to be implemented, she said.


    "Nothing has changed. This time I don't even feel like going to cast my ballot. My faith in the system has been shaken," said her husband.


    "All parties talk about women's dignity and empowerment but have no road map and they lack the will to do what they promise. At the end of the day, it remains only our pain, our struggle, our battle and our helplessness," he added.


    Dispirited and cynical, Mr Singh said elections give political parties the opportunity to come up with "hollow" promises. They mislead people for their own interests and put the promises in cold storage, the still grieving father added.


    He said the Nirbhaya Fund, a corpus announced by the Union government in 2013 budget, has not been "properly utilised".


    "The situation continues to be grave as street lights do not function in several areas and still there are several dark spots in the city making women vulnerable travelling in the night," he said.


    Mr Singh said autorickshaw drivers either refuse to go the distance or charge exorbitant rates while police patrolling has not increased.


    Five men, out of the six accused, were awarded death sentence in September 2013. This was upheld by the Delhi High Court in 2014.


    One of the accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in jail and another, a juvenile, was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment in a reform facility.


    In December last year, the top court dismissed a petition seeking directions for the immediate execution of the four men convicted in the case.


    On July 9 last year, the top court dismissed the pleas of three convicts - Mukesh, 31, Pawan Gupta, 24, and Vinay Sharma, 25, - seeking review of its 2017 verdict upholding the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court.


    The fourth death row convict, Akshay Kumar Singh, 33, has not filed a review plea in the top court.


    Asha Devi and her husband have moved Delhi's Patiala House Court to fast-track the procedure to hang the four convicts.

     

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Gautam Gambhir: Uniform Love And Regret Of A Lifetime

    former India opener said he has kept the connection alive with a foundation that supports “children of martyrs”.

    Gautam Gambhir: Uniform Love And Regret Of A Lifetime

    US: 3 Indian Convicted In Multi-Million Dollar Money-Laundering Scheme

    US: 3 Indian Convicted In Multi-Million Dollar Money-Laundering Scheme
    Three Indian-Americans are among six people convicted for their role in a two-year multi-million dollar money-laundering scheme, the US Justice Department has said.

    US: 3 Indian Convicted In Multi-Million Dollar Money-Laundering Scheme

    Shashi Tharoor, Prem Singh Chandumajra Demand Apology From British For Jallianwala

    MPs of the Congress and SAD on Wednesday demanded in Lok Sabha that the House should collectively demand an apology from the British for the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh at Amritsar.

    Shashi Tharoor, Prem Singh Chandumajra Demand Apology From British For Jallianwala

    Ludhiana Gang-Rape: 3 Accused Remanded In Police Custody For 7 Days, Manhandled By Akali Dal Supporters

    A 21-year-old woman was raped allegedly by 10 men near Issewal village on the banks of Sidwan canal, about 15 km from Ludhiana on Saturday

    Ludhiana Gang-Rape: 3 Accused Remanded In Police Custody For 7 Days, Manhandled By Akali Dal Supporters

    Will Take Away Bharat Ratna, Padma Awards If Misused: Centre

    The article is about ''Abolition of titles'' and its section 1 states, "No title, not being a military or academic distinction, shall be conferred by the State."

    Will Take Away Bharat Ratna, Padma Awards If Misused: Centre

    Centre Warns Against Revival Of Khalistan-Linked Terrorism In Punjab

    The NIA has registered seven terror-related cases in Punjab which were aimed at reviving the Khalistan-linked terrorism in the state, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

    Centre Warns Against Revival Of Khalistan-Linked Terrorism In Punjab