10 years ago today, on 16 December 2012, it was a Sunday night when a 23-year-old girl student was gang-raped by 6 people in a moving bus. Whatever happened that night changed the very definition of violence. When the girl student boarded the bus with her friend, there were already 6 people present there. One of which was also a minor.
In the moving bus, they brutally attacked the girl student, gang-raped her, beat her with iron rods and threw her on the roadside. The friend with whom the girl student had boarded the bus, the friend had already been dropped from the bus by these accused.
After this incident, there were widespread demonstrations across the country including the capital Delhi. Seeing the savagery and brutality of the accused, the souls of the people were shaken. But seeing the courage shown by the badly injured student during her treatment and identifying the culprits, the media named her Nirbhaya.
It took seven years to hang Nirbhaya’s culprits and get justice. The convicts were hanged on March 20, 2020.
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However, the journey till the convicts were brought to the gallows was not easy for Nirbhaya’s mother. He had to fight a complicated legal battle and finally got justice after seven years. 10 years ago in this case which brought panic to the whole country Read the full timeline of what happened every time…
Year – 2020
- 20 March 2020- The four convicts of Nirbhaya were hanged in Tihar Jail at 5.30 am. Nirbhaya’s parents talked about celebrating this date as Nirbhaya Day.
- 07 January 2020- Patiala House Court issues death warrant to Nirbhaya’s convicts.
Year- 2019
- 21 December 2019- Convicted Akshay Kumar gets seven days notice to file mercy petition.
- 18 December 2019- Supreme Court dismisses Akshay’s review petition, upholds death sentence
- 17 December 2019- Chief Justice SA Bobde distanced himself from this matter.
Year – 2018
- 13 December 2018- The Supreme Court rejected the petition demanding immediate hanging of the culprits.
- 09 July 2018- The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.
- 05 May 2018- The accused requested the court to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment.
- 04 May 2018- Verdict reserved on review petitions of Nirbhaya convicts.
Year – 2017
- 5 May 2017- The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of the accused.
- March 27, 2017 – The hearing of the Nirbhaya case was completed in the Supreme Court, the verdict was reserved.
Year – 2014
- 14 July 2014- The SC stayed the hanging of the four accused till the completion of the trial.
- 2 June 2014- The two accused in the case challenged the decision of the High Court and filed a petition in the Supreme Court.
- March 13, 2014- The Delhi High Court ruled to uphold the death sentence.
Year – 2013
- 7 October 2013- Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur appealed in the Delhi High Court against the sentence awarded by the lower court.
- 10 October 2013- Akshay Thakur, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma, all four were convicted.
- 31 August 2013- One of the accused, a minor, was sentenced to three years in the gangrape and murder case.
- 25 August 2013- The date for the decision of the minor’s sentence was extended.
- 11 July 2013JJB convicts minor in robbery case.
- 11 July 2013- One of the six accused, Ram Singh, committed suicide by hanging himself in Tihar Jail.
- 2 February 2013- The fast track court framed charges against these accused in cases of gangrape, murder and robbery.
- 28 January 2013- The Juvenile Justice Board declared one of the six accused as a minor.
- 3 January 2013- Delhi Police filed a charge sheet against five accused in the Nirbhaya case for murder, gangrape, unnatural sex, kidnapping and destruction of evidence.
Year – 2012
- 29 December 2012- The victim died during treatment. At that time he was being treated in a hospital in Singapore.
- 27 December 2012- When Nirbhaya’s condition did not improve, she was taken to Singapore for treatment.
- 24 December 2012- After protests taking place at various places, the government formed a committee to make laws in such cases.
- 23 December 2012- The Delhi High Court constituted a special fast track court for speedy hearing in this matter.
- 22 December 2012- The victim got her statements recorded in front of the SDM during the treatment itself.
- 21 December 2012- One of the gang rape accused said that he is a minor. He is seventeen and a half years old and was arrested from Anand Vihar bus stand. On the same day another accused Akshay Kumar was arrested from Aurangabad Bihar.
- 18 December 2012- Fierce protests were held in the capital Delhi regarding this gangrape.
- 17 December 2012- Police arrested four people including the main accused and bus driver Ram Singh.
- 16 December 2012- In Vasant Vihar, 6 people, including a minor, gang-raped Para Medical’s Nirbhaya in a moving bus. His partner was assaulted. Private Pratt was injured and an attempt was made to run over the girl student and her friend to death.
What changed after 10 years of Nirbhaya case?
Even after 10 years of the Nirbhaya case, there has been no significant improvement in the country regarding the safety of women. Recently there has been an acid attack on a schoolgirl in Delhi. If we look at the data of the year 2012, a decade before today i.e. in 2012, a total of 24923 incidents of rape took place in the country. Which means that there were about 69 rape incidents every day. But only in 24.2 percent cases the punishment was found.
Now if we look at the data of the entire subsequent NCRB i.e. National Records Bureau, in the year 2021, there were a total of 31677 incidents of rape in India. That is, every day about 86 girls or women are victims of rape. But criminals were convicted in only 28.6 percent cases in the whole year. Means only 28 criminals out of 100 were punished.
how safe delhi girls feel
Priyanka, 32, who has been living in Delhi for the last 5 years, says, ‘I have been living here for many years, but even today I could not muster the courage to go anywhere alone at night. I have also forbidden to put night shift in the office. Because I do not find it safe to go anywhere alone here at night.
Soumya, 25, also believes something similar. Saumya says, ‘Even today, I cannot go alone at night to the area near Munirka where Nirbhaya was raped. Every day, after reading incidents like rape, murder in the capital or watching it on TV, I feel scared and I avoid leaving the house at night unless there is some very important work. Whenever I have to leave, I make sure that I take a friend or family member with me.
Rashmi, who is studying in college, says, ‘I am scared to come from Delhi to Noida at night and similarly to go from Noida to Delhi.’ It happened once when I was coming home alone at around 11 in the night and for some reason my cab had dropped me before dropping me home. That day a car followed me till I reached home. It is thankful that my house is on the side of the road. Don’t know what would have happened that day if it had happened in a street or a deserted area.