Night of shame continues…..

In this case, the victim’s father was also a migrant from a remote village in Uttar Pradesh, who moved to the city in the early 1980s in search of employment. He took up sundry jobs until he was engaged as a loader at the Delhi international airport. He married soon after and the couple had three children—Nirbhaya, the eldest, followed by two sons. Nirbhaya performed well academically and aspired to be a neurosurgeon. However, she settled for a more affordable four-year course in physiotherapy in Dehradun. Her father had to sell his land in the village and liquidate all his savings to raise the Rs 40,000 required to secure her admission in the physiotherapy institute. She graduated with flying colours and was awaiting placement when the tragedy struck. Nirbhaya represents an aspirational India that wishes to make a mark by dint of hard work, education and acquiring skills. She will be remembered not only as the victim of a horrific crime but also as an aspirational Indian woman, whose life was cut short by ruthless criminals.

Some incidents and cases are watershed moments in the history of not only a police force, but also the city where they occur and possibly even the country. The anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, the terror attack on the Parliament House and the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai are such cases. The Nirbhaya case, as the brutal Munirka bus rape case is commonly referred to, was  another  such  tipping  point. It galvanized public opinion on the issue of crimes against women and the laws to deal with them not only in India, but worldwide. We in India did well to rise to the occasion and amend our laws drastically by introducing the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, amending the Indian Penal Code, Evidence Act and Code of Criminal Procedure with respect to sexual offences. For the first time, offences such as sexual harassment, voyeurism, acid attacks and stalking were expressly recognized and criminalized.

To be continued…..