It has been 10 years since the barbaric gang-rape of a 22-year-old woman in Delhi shook the country to its core. The national Capital was at that time labelled the 'Rape Capital' of India and the safety of women seemed to be in tatters in the city. Barely two days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Nirbhaya gang-rape incident a 17-year-old girl was attacked with acid by two masked motorcycle-borne men in west Delhi's Mohan Garden area. The police have arrested the three accused in connection with the crime.
Nirbhaya, the woman who was brutally raped on December 16, 2012, got justice after eight years when on March 20, 2020, all her rapists -- Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta -- were executed in Tihar Jail.
Since 2012, several steps have been taken by successive Governments to enhance women's security, not only in the national Capital, but all over the country. And now after almost a decade, the real question is -- are women really feeling safe in Delhi? Has there been any reduction in crimes against women? It is only the residents of Delhi who can answer these pertinent questions.
However, NCRB data says that women are still not safe in the city. Two minor girls were raped every day last year in Delhi, which was the most unsafe metropolitan city for women across the country. Delhi also recorded 13,892 cases of crimes against women in 2021, a significant surge of more than 40 per cent compared to 2020 when the figure was 9,782, the data showed.
On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the incident, Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi said more sexual assault survivors are speaking up now.
"In the last 10 years, we do not think anybody except Nirbhaya got justice. No change has come," she told the media. Her husband, Badri Narayan Singh, lamented that women are not safe even today. However, one positive change that has come about after the December 16 incident is that more sexual assault survivors are now speaking out, Devi said.
The physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya' (fearless), was sexually assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012. She died a fortnight later due to her horrific injuries.
Six people, including a juvenile, were named as accused. While the juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home, four convicts were hanged on March 20, 2020. Ram Singh, the sixth accused, allegedly killed himself in Tihar Jail days after the trial began in the case.