The fateful night of December 16, 2012 changed their lives forever. Nirbhaya’s parents were waiting for the 23-year-old para-medical girl student at home when they received a call that their daughter was admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre for severe injuries. It was only later that they realised that their beloved daughter was subjected to a brutal gang rape by six persons, including a juvenile.
As the tale of the cruelty meted out to her unfolded, the country erupted in anger against sluggish policing and demanded severest punishment for the accused. But for the devastated parents, legal shield to the juvenile rapist is a great travesty of justice. “We can’t forget the fateful December 16. The pain will last till our death. We won’t be satisfied till they (including the juvenile brute) are hanged,” say Nirbhaya’s parents.
The family now want to take the matter to its logical conclusion. Her parents have filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the juvenile. “He (the juvenile) is now spending time happily in a correction home. Why is such a treatment being given to himIJ He should be hanged as well,” the teary-eyed mother of the victim told The Pioneer.
She recounted how her daughter spent the day at home before the fateful night. “She woke up early and prepared breakfast for us. She cooked Rajma Chawal for lunch. We both then took a siesta. She got ready in the evening and told me that she was going out for a movie, but since my relatives came she prepared tea and snacks for them before going out. Around 5.30pm she left home. Her last words to me were ‘Ma, I will be back in 2-3 hours’,” said Nirbhaya’s mother.
These words are humming in my ears since December 16, she added. “The sight of lonely roads and dark stretches still haunt me. It’s hard to even imagine what trauma my daughter must have gone through,” she added.
Her father told the reporter that it was the last day that rajma was cooked in the house. Recalling moments of her childhood, he added, “Once we went to our hometown. Since there was no transportation we had to walk a mile under the scorching sun in May. She got sunburn on her cheeks and cried unbearably. She was so sensitive, I wonder how she bore so much pain and torture for 13 odd days.”
“Even though she couldn’t talk, she made signs and told me to go, wash hair, eat food and sleep,” said her mother upholding her emotions. Nirbhaya’s parents rued that nothing had changed since then and women are still vulnerable in the Capital. “The mentality of the people has to change. It will be better if people come out in open,” said the couple.
The father of the victim who works as a porter at the domestic airport was earlier hesitant in talking to other women, but the tragedy has now changed his personality. Now he has some knowledge about law. Nirbhaya’s brothers miss her a lot as she used to guide them in their studies. Her younger brother has fond memories of her sister. “She was good at calligraphy. No one has ever asked me about the incident and I don’t talk much to people,” said her younger brother.