JOIN USThe pain of the family of the physiotherapy student who was brutally gangraped in a Delhi bus on the night of December 16, 2012, has not diminished with the passage of time.
“Our tears have not dried. With each passing day her memories get more intense. Someone is always crying at home,” said the girl’s father.
The family still remains in grief and shock since the incident, despite a fast-track court sentencing four of the offenders to death in nine months.
“We will never recover ever and she is very much alive within us,” the 48-year-old father said, with tears welling up in his eyes.
He said every time his wife cooks something, she remembers their daughter.
“Every time we sit to eat our meals, my wife says...this is her favourite food and we are eating it without her. She loved good food. My wife remembers the last time when our daughter left home saying that she will be back home in three-four hours...but our wait never ended as the hours turned into months and then into years,” he said with a choked voice.
Fighting off tears, he said the battle has just begun as they filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the juvenile who was “let off”.
“We have not yet got justice. We want all the culprits including the one, who was a juvenile at the time of the incident, to be hanged and only perhaps then our minds will get some rest and we will be able to sleep in peace,” he said with his wife nodding in agreement.
The couple had moved the Supreme Court to quash a law that shields the juvenile from possible death sentence on account that he was a minor at the time of the incident.
Asked if life for women in the country has become safe following the massive protest that forced the government to amend the anti-rape law and review measures for their safety, the father said: “as long as society’s mindset fails to change women can never be safe out on the roads.”
“There were huge protests and even the laws were changed and police have become more active and alert, but have the crimes against women stopped.
“Every other day cases of rape and sexual harassment are getting reported, where is the change. I don’t see any change...do you?” the father said, disappointment writ large on his face.