Govt has done nothing for safety, security of people: Parents

New Delhi: In remembrance of their daughter, parents of Nirbhaya along with family members on Thursday morning paid tribute to their brave daughter at Rajghat on her fourth death anniversary.

Nirbhaya, the victim of the December 16 gangrape, battled hard for life and died at a hospital in Singapore on December 29. Asha Devi, mother of Nirbhaya, along with others, paid tribute to her daughter at Rajghat with moist eyes and said, “The government has not done anything for the safety and security of people. Though we are standing here today and paying homage to my brave daughter, a girl somewhere is still being targeted.”

Yet to see the light in the rape case of their daughter, Asha Devi broke down in front of the media and alleged that the government is trying to erase the memory of their daughter from people’s mind. Voicing displeasure, Asha Devi said, “The government is naming the ‘one-stop’ crisis centres for women ‘Sakhi’ instead of Nirbhaya. How can they forget my daughter?”

Nirbhaya centres, or Sakhi centres, are a one-stop crisis centre for women in distress and are funded by the Union government. They are to be set up in all 640 districts and 20 additional locations across the country. Initially, the women and child development ministry had announced setting up of one-stop crisis centres across the country and name them “Nirbhaya centres”. But as the project rolled out, they named them “Sakhi”.

Slamming the lackadaisical attitude of the government towards women safety and security, she said, “Our society hasn’t learned anything from the horrific incident. Since the heinous crime took place, I haven’t been idle during these years even for one moment and have been struggling to get justice for my daughter and others like her. But, the government cashed onto the oppo-rtunity and played games, rather executing things at the ground level. The tormentors of our daughter are yet to be hanged.”

Determined to see the tormentors of their daughter to be hanged as soon as possible, the parents demanded that punishment should be meted out to rapists at the earliest. And to give a stern warning, the rapists should be executed for the rarest of rare crimes. “Our second demand is that fast-tracking of cases should not be restricted to the district courts. It should be extended to the Supreme Court,” added Asha Devi.

The Supreme Court has stayed the death sentence of the four convicts twice on March 15, 2014 and July 14, 2014. The apex court is yet to hand down its decision. Accusing the government to use the case for the political benefits, the parents alleged that they don’t wish to see any minister standing at Gandhi Samadhi and pay homage to their daughter, but step-up the security measures for women and stop misusing such heinous cases for political motives. She also blamed the Centre for not utilising the `200-crore Nirbhaya Fund.