With December 16 marking seven years since 'Nirbhaya', a physiotherapy student, was gangraped in Delhi, her mother Asha Devi has started an online petition urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite the case.
“Before being called India’s Daughter, she was my child. Next Monday, 16th December will mark 7 years since she was gang-raped by 5 brutes, before she died of her injuries. 4 of them were later sentenced to death. I have waited with dignity for justice all these years. Now with the case dragging on and on, I am tired. My patience has run out. But I won’t be able to rest until my daughter’s killers are punished,” the petition says.
Asha Devi asks for the PM to intervene and speed up the delivery of justice in the Nirbhaya case, and to set a time frame for fast-track trials for deciding cases of crimes against women.
“My name means hope. Hope is what keeps me going. It makes me believe that my prayers will be answered,” Asha wrote.
She also refers to the gangrape and murder of Disha (name changed), a 26-year-old veterinarian, in Hyderabad, and says that many other gruesome cases have come to light has well. “I want the government to know that we are not alone. Millions of Indians like you are tired of waiting,” the petition says, with a plea urging people to sign so that Nirbhaya’s killers are punished.
“As her mother, I need justice. As a nation, we need closure,” Asha says.
The petition was started on Change.org about two weeks ago. At the time of writing, it had over 45,000 signatures. See the petition here.
The four men accused of Nirbhaya’s rape and death were sentenced to death. The main accused in the case, Ram Singh died by suicide in Tihar jail in 2013, a year after the crime.
Two of the convicts – Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh – recently filed mercy pleas against their death sentences. However, Vinay asked for his mercy petition to be withdrawn last week, saying that he never approved it, and it was sent without his consent. Akshay meanwhile, argued in the petition the feasibility of a death sentence when the air in Delhi was already toxic, and other stress factors were reducing lifespan. His lawyer, AP Singh, also argued against capital punishment on moral and human rights grounds.