A nation’s painful wait ends
It was a painful wait, but justice has finally been delivered in the December 16 gangrape case. The incident that shook the conscience of the nation, witnessed thousands of people coming out on the streets demanding death for the accused who brutally gangraped the 23-year-old paramedical student in the national capital who succumbed to injuries.
The nationwide protests saw protesters clashing with the Delhi police and the government coming under severe pressure to take immediate steps to prevent such crimes in the future. The demand for justice paved way for an ordinance promulgated by the government, which, for the first time, spelt “death” for rapists. The Parliament finally passed a new law giving capital punishment for brutal rape cases. Now, this law has been invoked to hang the four accused of the December 16 gangrape case.
The Justice J.S. Verma Commission, set up by the government to suggest steps to curb crimes against women, incidentally had not recommended death penalty. But the commission had indeed spelt out the need to award the highest punishment for rape accused and speedy trial of accused.
Nine months after the horrific incident, the fasttrack court has sentenced the four accused of the December 16 gangrape case to death.
It was on the night of December 16 when the physiotherapy student, accompanied by her male companion, boarded an empty bus in Munirka in the capital after watching a movie. While one convict, who is a juvenile, lured them into the bus, the six accused, including the driver who later committed suicide inside the Tihar Jail, indulged in the worst kind of brutality. The men beat up the victim with iron rods and then stripped her and her male companion, before throwing them out of the bus. The assault was so vicious that the victim’s intestine and abdominal areas were severely damaged by the time she was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital.
The victim, in her dying declaration, gave the names of all the six accused helping the police build a strong case.
At Safdarjung hospital, the victim underwent multiple surgeries. Throughout the hardships, the 23-year-old communicated her strong desire to live through small notes that she scribbled using a pen and paper. But as fate would have it, the victim’s condition started deteriorating resulting in internal bleeding and finally death.
The doctors treating her called it a “rarest of the rare” case that they had seen in their entire medical career.
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