Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

An Indian woman lights a candle to pay respect on the first anniversary of the fatal gang rape of the young woman in a bus New Delhi. Saurabh Das/AP/PA
India

India to hold vigils to mark anniversary of gang-rape victim's death

The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died this day last year, nearly two weeks after being attacked by a gang of men on a moving bus in Dehli.

INDIA WILL TODAY mark 12 months since the death of a student savagely gang-raped on a Delhi bus – an episode that sparked nationwide protests – with candle-light vigils and prayers.

The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died on 29 December last year, nearly two weeks after being brutally attacked by a gang of six men on a moving bus as she returned home from the cinema with a male companion.

Her attack and subsequent death shook the country, shone a global spotlight on India’s treatment of women and unleashed seething public anger about sexual violence and harassment of women.

The victim’s family will hold a religious ceremony in their ancestral village in northern Uttar Pradesh state, away from the constant media attention they have faced since the attack, her brother said.

“We want to remember her in a quiet way, away from all the glare. We want it to be a private, family moment,” the brother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told AFP.

imageBadri Singh, father of the Delhi gang-rape victim. during an interview in November (Image: Altaf Qadri/AP/PA).

The family will follow traditional Hindu rituals today, with a prayer ceremony and symbolic offerings made to their ancestors, which are believed to bring peace to those who have died.

The student, who was repeatedly assaulted with an iron rod during her ordeal, has been praised for her determination to report her attackers to the police before she died of her injuries.

imageTwo of the men convicted of the gang-rape of the young student (Image: Tsering Topgyal/AP/PA).

Four of her attackers were convicted and given the death penalty in September after the case was fast-tracked, while a juvenile was sentenced to a detention centre.

The sixth convict died in prison in March in an apparent suicide.

The angry and sometimes violent protests against the attack jolted India’s parliament, which this year passed tougher laws against rapists and other sex-crime offenders.

Women’s groups say some improvements have also been made in the last 12 months to India’s notoriously slow, inefficient and sometimes corrupt police and judicial systems, which has encouraged some victims to report sexual crimes against them.

imageIndian students carrying placards shout slogans at a protest on Christmas Eve (Image: Saurabh Das/AP/PA).

Despite the reforms, new cases of rape continue to be reported daily from across the country in the Indian press. An ambulance driver allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl after he drove her sick mother to hospital in the central state of Chhattisgarh, the Press Trust of India reported.

Police have charged the driver over the incident in Kanker district on 23 December, the news agency reported yesterday.

A woman was also raped by two separate groups of men while she was sightseeing with friends in the southern territory of Puducherry on Christmas Eve, local media reported. Twelve people have been arrested over the attacks, NDTV station reported.

In the capital, scores of students, professionals and others were slated to gather later today at Jantar Mantar, a protest site in the city’s centre, where a makeshift memorial has been set up for the victim.

Small lamps, candles and flowers will be placed around the memorial before a peaceful vigil in the evening, one of several expected to take place across the city.

One of the organisers said women who turn up at Jantar Mantar will be encouraged to share their own experiences of violence and discuss societal changes that have taken place since the student’s death.

“We need to remind the society that sex crimes won’t be tolerated anymore,” student Ishaan Ahmed told AFP.

- © AFP 2013.

Read: Four men convicted in India gang rape case>

Read: Female photojournalist gang-raped in India>

Your Voice
Readers Comments
9
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.