This refers to the article, “No full closure in Nirbhaya case” (May 18) by Shreya Kedia. The recent verdict of the Supreme Court has given some sigh of relief to Nirbhaya's parents, but I agree it is not a full closure for them. Indeed if changes made in the juvenile justice Act would have come a few years ago, her parents could have seen the most brutal accused in this rape case, who happened to be a juvenile at that time, also getting the same sort of punishment. Especially when the juvenile under question did not show any remorse during or after his time in custody, as observed by his counsellor. It proves the warped nature of the law, using which the accused got out of the punishment handed over to his other four partners in crime.
We all know that reporting rape case remains a huge social stigma in our society, and with lack of full utilisation of the Nirbhaya Fund allocated to ensure safety of women at public places and increased number of reported rape cases in 2015, the situation is anything but satisfying. Hence there is lot to be done.
As a society we need to make self-defence training mandatory for our school children and college going students, especially girls. Both State and Union Governments need to sit together to device a long-term strategy to ensure that women are safer in each and every part of India.