Mysore: December 16, 2012 was thought to be one of the darkest days for women in India when a 23-year-old physiotherapist was abducted into a private bus along with her boyfriend and was gang-raped as the bus moved around Delhi. She and her friend were later thrown out of bus after a couple of hours.
The girl Nirbhaya fought for her life gallantly as she did within the bus but succumbed to her incalculable injuries and indignities heaped on her.
The Delhi Police, facing the heat of protests from all corners of the country for their inefficiency and initial haughty response, finally arrested the 6 who perpetrated the inhuman offences, one of whom was a juvenile. One of the accused died in jail. The juvenile defendant has been sentenced for 3 years in a correctional reform facility.
On September 10, 2013 a trial court found them all guilty of rape and murder and sentenced them to death by hanging. The High Court upheld the guilty verdict on March 13, 2014.
On March 15, 2014 the Supreme Court stayed the execution of 2 of the 4 accused to make their appeal against conviction. On June 2, 2014 two of the other accused also made an appeal to stay their execution.
As of now two and a half years following the attack the country's highest court is yet to give a decision on a probable open-and-shut case which rocked the country and even foreign lands.
Of what use is a fast-track court which goes through all evidence, follows all procedures of legality and hands down a verdict, upheld by the High Court when justice is not served even after so much of clamour for quick justice to be delivered?
Had there been a quicker response from judiciary, at least it would have served as a forceful deterrent to hundreds of future rapists, not to speak of horror and mental anguish to the victims and their families. Of what use is a judgment pronounced with pomp bereft of timeliness if it is so late virtually making it useless? Is this what the Constitution promised to its citizens?
It looks like the average time to dispose off a case in India is around 20 years and beyond. This was seen in the Sanjay Dutt case as well as LN Mishra case.
But one cannot reemphasize the need for quick disposal, sentencing and execution of a rape and murder case that involve women of the country. The social stigma, numbing pain victims go through is hardly understood by men ruling our courts, politicians governing the country in our Parliament.
On the top of it an insensitive media is not averse to heaping further insults on the victim's family by reopening the wounds as it were by gleefully telecasting the visuals of the tragedy. It is a shame government allows that to happen on national television and greater shame the previous government allowed that programme to be made in the first place.
Under such circumstances is one not justified wondering whether we are a Banana Republic insensitive to the feelings of women of the country and are we running a Kangaroo court with least worry when justice will be served, if at all?
December 16, 2012 was one of the darkest days for our women. The days, months and years following the dastardly act are worse than that dark night.
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