Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal on Monday remembered Nirbhaya, seven years past the gruesome incident and urged the Central government to implement Andhra Pradesh's Disha law across the country which provides for awarding death sentences to convicts in rape cases within 21 days.
A 23-year-old paramedical student, who was later named Nirbhaya, was gang-raped in a moving bus by six men on December 16, 2012. The convicts are now facing the gallows.
"Seven years have passed from that dreadful night. Till date, the convicts in Nirbahya gang-rape have not been given the punishment and the case continues to drag its feet in our justice system. There is an emergent need to bring a law in the entire country as the Disha Law of Andhra Pradesh," Maliwal stated in the letter.
Maliwal said that till date Nirbhaya's mother is running from pillar to post to get justice for her daughter.
"How will fear of the system be in the minds of criminals when they see how the murderers of Nirbhaya have been kept as government guests for seven years," the letter read.
She said that in the last seven years, neither the painful memories of that dreadful night have faded nor there has been any concrete change in the system.
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"Every day, every page of the newspapers is stained with the blood of thousands of girls around the country. And the fast asleep government and leaders of our country are not acting on it, because they and their families do not have to deal with this pain," she rued.
We need to strengthen ourselves, organise ourselves and fight for our rights, Maliwal added.
The DCW chief sat on hunger strike against the increasing rape cases across the country for 13 days, following which she lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital yesterday.