Women's safety: Nothing changed in 11 yrs, says Nirbhaya's mother
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New Delhi: Mother of the 'Nirbhaya' says that the situation of women's safety in the country has not changed even a little in the past 11 years.
"It has been 11 years, and nothing has changed. We got justice with everyone's cooperation, but several cases are stuck in the lower court for 10 to 12 years," said the mother of the 23-year-old paramedic student whose gang rape and murder happened on December 16, 2012.
The brutal incident had shaken the whole country to its roots. The student, who came to be known as Nirbhaya -- the fearless one -- was raped and brutally assaulted inside a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29, 2012, in Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
Among the six accused in the case, Ram Singh allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail while the trial was going on. An accused juvenile was released from a correction home three years after the incident. The remaining four, Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) were hanged to death on March 20, 2020.
Nirbhaya's father, Badrinath Singh, lamented that even now, whenever incidents of rape happen, nobody stands with the victim. He said, "We got justice as the whole nation was with us. Fast track court helped us to get justice for our daughter."
Nirbhaya's mother, Asha Devi, said that cases of crimes against women have not decreased still. "Laws were made, but nothing was done. Sometimes, we get so disappointed by the feeling that nothing is going to change. Many cases come to us also, and we can only extend our moral support to them."
According to a National Crime Records Bureau report, Delhi recorded the highest number of crimes against women among the 19 metropolitan cities in India in 2022. The national capital reported 14,158 cases of crimes against women in 2022, followed by 6,176 in Mumbai and 3,924 in Bengaluru.
In 2022, crime against women in Delhi witnessed a 1.25 per cent-on-year increase from 13,982 in 2021.
According to the NCRB data, Delhi recorded 1,204 rape cases in 2022. It also reported 129 dowry death cases. Five acid attack cases against women were recorded, while there were also three attempted attacks. The city also witnessed 3,909 kidnappings or abductions of women in 2022.