Nirbhaya - Be Fearless

Who Was She?On Dec. 16, the 23-year-old physiotherapy student was viciously assaulted by a group of men while she was riding a bus with a male companion. The two had just seen a movie. Both she and the man were beaten with an iron rod and eventually stripped, robbed and dumped on the roadside. After three surgeries at an Indian hospital, the woman was flown to Singapore on Thursday for further treatment. She died early on Saturday after suffering what hospital officials said were “signs of severe organ failure.”  doctors found she had suffered severe internal injuries that could have been caused by the iron rod. In between operations to remove more than 90 per cent of her intestines, she managed to give two long interviews to police and a magistrate, and spoke to her family of her determination that her rapists be brought to justice.

The Nation Unites In Protest

Starting with her friend who tried to save her life even though he was severely injured as well, the people who first noticed them lying on the road and took them to the hospital, the police, the entire nation united in protest against this inhumane act and to fight for justice.

How the Government reacted- The PM was “Deeply Saddened”, but India wants justice

Insensitive Remarks by Politicians:

1. Abhijit Mukherjee, the president’s son and a Member of the Indian Parliament, dismissed the current anti-rape protesters in the capital Delhi calling them "dented and painted women" who frequented discos, implying that the protests smacked of tokenism.

2.  Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, dismissed on Friday the infamous rape case in Park Street in Kolkata as a "misunderstanding between a lady and her client and not a rape".

3. Self-proclaimed ‘Godman’, Asaram Bapu, bit off more than he could chew when he said that the rape victim could have saved herself if she had begged the rapists and addressed them as ‘brothers’!

This reprehensible crime reflects an alarming trend in India, which basks in its success as a growing business and technological Mecca but tolerates shocking abuse of women. Rape cases have increased at an alarming rate, roughly 25 percent in six years. New Delhi recorded 572 rapes in 2011; that total is up 17 percent this year.And those are just the reported cases. Many victims, shamed into silence and callously disregarded by a male-dominated power structure, never go to the authorities to seek justice. Women are routinely blamed for inciting the violence against them. An 18-year-old girl from Punjab who had been gang-raped in an earlier incident killed herself after police and village elders pressured her to drop the case and marry one of her attackers.

Nirbhaya, lost her life, people got hurt in the protest, policemen were grievously injured, but people chose to act rather than sit back and watch. The people demand for capital punishment, but the government still debates on whether one of the rapists was a juvenile or not. Progress maybe slow but justice will be attained. A new India awakes where the people now feel responsible.