Introduction
If we look into the last few decades, we can see that India has experienced phenomenal growth in all aspects. But despite achieving high-level growth, one persistent issue remains: the crime against women. The 2012 Nirbhaya case is a stark reminder of the horrendous crimes women continue to face. Women have long been victims of such atrocities, as highlighted by a UN report on the status of women in society. Despite making up half of the world’s population and working two-thirds of the world’s work hours, women receive only one-tenth of the world’s income and own fewer than one percent of the world’s property.
Crime against women especially sexual violence possess an anxious situation for the Indian authorities. Currently, the central government and the respected state governments have focused on the increasing number of crimes. Since, the subject forces them to be worried by the volcanic growth in the number of crimes. Today, we will be going through one of the devilish crimes committed on 16th December, 2012. Yes, you are right i.e., the Nirbhaya Gang-Rape Case, that shocked the entire nation because of the nature of the crime.
Back Ground of the case
Nirbhaya is the name given to the girl who was brutally gang raped in 16 December 2012 in Delhi. Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old female, and her male companion, were traveling home on the night of 16 December 2012 after watching the film Life of Pi at Saket, in South Delhi. They started their journey by traveling through bus service Munirka to Dwarka at round about 9:30 pm (IST). There were only 6 others with him in the bus. Out of which one was the driver of the bus. After one of the men had stopped for passengers and told them that the bus was heading in the direction of their destination.
Her friend felt questionable when the bus was not being in its typical way and its doors were closed, he protested but the driver of the bus along with his other mates already on board, asked the couple what they were doing out at that time of the night. The male person who attempted to Intervene on behalf of Nirbhaya, he was assaulted by the criminals. In the course of the quarrel his friend clashed with the group of men. He was flogged, and his head was battered with an iron rod which led him knocked unconscious.
They then took Jyoti to the back of the bus and while the driver continued to drive, they used the rod to beat her and forcefully raped her. Nirbhaya was not only sexually assaulted, her genital area was hacked into by the monsters. A medical report for her later stated that she had severe injuries to the abdominal area, genital area and even intestines due to the attack and doctors opined that the severity of the injury suggested that a blunt object –the iron rod suspected to have been used for the penetration may have been used.
That rod was later described by the police as a rusty L shaped tool of the same type used as a wheel jack handle. The woman was later succumbed to complications of multiple organ failure, internal bleeding among other injuries.
Judgement in Nirbhaya Case
All the three judges were on the same page in holding that the act allegedly committed by the accused was unmeritorious of any sympathy. In a way to assert, that the diabolic crime outraged the moral sensibilities of society and to tell them, that the court can consider this as an extraordinary or rarest of rare case when death penalties can be given. Fingerprints, blood and DNA samples, and witness testimonies and odontology placed the accused in the bus and involved in the crime, according to the Supreme Court.
The ruthlessness with which she was treated and the way they played with her person, her identity and her dignity is bruised unparallelly, the bench said. The Apex court of India dispensed justice to the family of the deceased and all the women of the country by upholding the sentence of death penalty to the four accused in the Nirbhaya gangrape and placing murder case in the category of rarest of the rare and most brutal and barbaric incident on a 23-year-old paramedic student, Jyoti Singh. The convicts treated the victim as an object of enjoyment and they enjoy the sexuality of the woman to the maximum level.
In this particular matter, the Supreme Court of the India decided it through a three judges’ bench which in its unanimous decision affirmed the Delhi High court’s decision which also agreed with the trial court in the case. These four people Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh were all hanged till death for the inhumanity they displayed to a woman of this country. The bench awarded them the death sentence because the crime done by them fitted the rarest of the rare category. The fifth accused was not put to trial and all he was taken to a correction home for three years because he was still a juvenile at that time.
Changes produced after the case
In the year 2013 an amendment in criminal law was passed for rectifying these loopholes in justice delivery system which is known as the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013. The Criminal Amendment Act 2013, is also known as the Anti rape law of India. Under this change, new offences like stalking, acid attacks and voyeurism were incorporated into the definition of rape.
Now Even the threat to rape is a crime and the person shall be punished for the same.
This was done due to increase in number of rape cases as the minimum sentence that used to take was seven years was changed to ten years.
Whereas the act resulting into the death of the victim or the leaving the victim in the vegetative state, the minimum jail term prescribed was raised to 20 years.
The character of the victim had no bearing on rape cases it does not matter whether you give punishment for the crime or not.
After this particular case another problem in the system was realized whereby one of the accused was a juvenile. Thus, under Violent crimes current age of criminal responsibility for being tried as an adult for rape was changed from 18 to 16 years is under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. There was also the addition of two activities that are registering of complaints and medical examination.
Categorical to this report, any officer, who fails to register a case of rape reported to him, or attempts to abort its investigation commits an offence which shall be punishable as prescribed. Furthermore, the committee provided further guidelines with regard to the prevention of marital rape together with those rapes that occur through commission of the nullity marriages.
Legislative Reforms after Nirbhaya Case
The Nirbhaya case made the central Government of India wake up from slumber and respond with two major legal reforms the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 2013 (CLA 2013) and the Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in spite of mass protests across the country. The third one is that to provide an immediate to long-term care to the victims of gender base violence, the government opened One Stop Centres. The protest included perception of issues ranging from absence of security for women, inefficiency of public transport system, flaws in the working of police that blames the victim for rape and delays to register FIR for crimes against women to bureaucratic hurdles in reporting rape cases.
The anti-rape laws reformation task was given to the Justice Verma Committee that resulted into far reaching changes in legislation. Delhi’s police force got many more woman officers to encourage the women to come forward and report the incidents. Security personnel stepped up, patrolling was increased plus the local police force was trained on women’s rights and safety. Six fast-track courts which were primarily designed for the speedy delivery of justice in the rape cases were stressed on immediate assistance to the victim. More rigorous changes were also brought into laws outlawing sexual assault, enhancing the ambit of legal protection.
This is what was seen in the case of a 17-year-old accused which clearly called for a review of the juvenile laws in the country. The post-Nirbhaya saw the formation of a public space wherein people could come together and talk about the issue of sexual violation of women and this was fairly new to the discourse. Failure of providing medico-legal care has become a criminal offence under section 166B of Indian Penal Code on the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013.
Conclusion
The Nirbhaya rape case involved six men, including a juvenile, who were charged and proven guilty by the court. The accused were named Ram Singh, Mukesh Singh, Vinay Gupta, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur, and a minor. Bus driver Ram Singh committed suicide in Tihar Jail on March 11, 2013, during the trial’s proceedings. The minor was sent to a juvenile court, convicted, and sentenced to the maximum provision, which is three years imprisonment in a reform centre.
In September 2013, the trial court convicted Mukesh, Akshay, Pawan, and Vinay, sentencing them to capital punishment. Three of the convicts, including Akshay, sought reconsideration of the judgment, but their applications were denied. The Supreme Court rejected Akshay’s review petition on December 18, 2019, and the convicts were finally hanged on March 20, 2020.
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