On December 16, 2012, a physiotherapy intern was brutally gangraped and beaten by six men on a moving bus in Delhi. March 13, 2014, Delhi High Court announced death penalty for all four convicts. By July 14, 2014 Supreme Court put a stay on the execution of all four convicts. And no call was made for the next hearing since then. Two years since the brutal Delhi gangrape, not much has changed. Criminal lawyers feel that even after the gangrape case that jolted the entire nation, the judicial system takes it own sweet time to deliver justice.
“They should have been hanged by now,” said KK Manan, a criminal lawyer. “The accused should have been executed by now and the case should have been closed. In fact, SC should have focused on this case rather than dealing with 2G scam and other cases,” he added.
The Supreme Court stayed the execution of Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur in July 2014, who were convicted along with other two, Mukesh and Pawan Gupta, whose death sentence has already been stayed.
“What happens in many cases is that investigative agencies do not carry out clean investigation. This shows their lethargy and incompetence to solve a case. Coming to December 16 gangrape, the justice could have been delivered faster if so many witnesses were not presented in the case. The investigative agencies swallowed most of the time,” said Manan.
Defence lawyer AP Singh feels that CBI investigation should have been carried out in the case. “It was a political murder. The girl was not killed by the accused. The reason for Damini’s death was laxity in her medical treatment. This case was absolutely politically motivated. CBI investigation should have been carried out like that of Badaun gangrape case. India judicial system needs to be changed.”
Geeta luthra, criminal lawyer in Supreme Court feels that, “everybody’s time should be respected. In our country, only judges’ time is respected. Justice should be delivered fast. Even the victims’ family’s time should be given due importance just as that of a lawyer’s.” Too many dates, too little action. Years on, families of rape victims await justice for their daughters and are left with little option but to wait for the next court hearing. Since July 2014, no court hearing has been called in the rape case.