Nirbhaya rape case: 10 years after a tragedy convulsed the nation

The release of the accused in the Bilkis Bano case has made us think about whether the reaction against the Nirbhaya gangrape-murder was only a flash in the pan event.

On the fateful night of 16th December 2012, a 23-year-old paramedic unwittingly boarded a bus at Munirika. Little did she realize that six monsters had their eyes peeled for her. What followed was a brutal assault and a rape so horrific that it touched off a protest, it gathered more steam after the victim, unfortunately, died on the 29^th of December that year.

The graphic narration of her rape- inserting a rod in her private parts and pulling out of her intestines- added to the depravity of the incident. The fact that all the accused were arrested within one week of the case didn't help in abating the heat generated by the case in that winter.

Jantar Mantar and India Gates were a hive of protests. The infuriated protestors braved the biting cold and water cannons to raise their voice.

The opposition, which also included the then newly formed AAP(Aam Admi Party) mined a rich seam of the incident and helped in bumping up the anti-government sentiment.

The immediate fallout of the case was significant- Justice J.S. Verma committee was constituted in 2013. The committee recommended strict penalties against the culprits and touched upon the nuanced definitions of violence against women and hence dispelled vagueness.

The case received an unusual conclusion when four of the six accused were hanged to death on 20^th March 2020. While one accused Ram Singh committed suicide, one got away as he was a juvenile. In an exclusive interview to The Mooknayak Asha Devi, the mother of the victim regretted that one boy ( Juvenile) was not brought to justice.

if the statistics are to be believed, we see that there has been an increase in cases of rape with some exceptions and if we consider 2012 as a base year it has increased every year.

The increase in cases of rape has been largely attributed to the widening of the definition of rape: For example, The ambit of the term "rape" was increased to include the insertion of foreign and unnatural objects into a female's private parts as an offence of rape under Section 375 of the IPC.

However, the conviction rate remains unimpressive at 39%, although it has improved significantly since 2012 when it was only 24%.

The unequal rapes and selective outrage

In a marked contrast from 2012, when the Nirbhaya rape case shook the nation; some rape cases in India meet a selective response.

2018 Kathua Gang-rape murder case

In a blood-curdling case 8-year-old Muslim girl was gang-raped and killed by five men, which included two policemen. But the horrific rape was reduced to a political drama and turned into a Hindu-Muslim affair as it managed to mobilize people in support of the accused and the protests were attended by two BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party) ministers both of whom later resigned.

Even some big media houses attempted to shield the accused by publishing manipulative information.

However, the positive factor was that six of the seven accused were convicted on 10^th June 2019.

2020 Hathras Rape Case

A Dalit girl belonging to the Valmiki community was allegedly gang-raped and killed by members of the dominant Thakur community. The depravity of the crime was compounded by the fact that the police furtively burned the body of the girl by sprinkling petrol. The unusual conduct hinted at the possibility of a cover-up allegedly at the behest of the state government.

Like in Kathua, this case also saw mobilization in the support of the accused belonging to upper castes. The family of the victim was visited by many politicians and covered by the media. Siddique Kappan a journalist was arrested while on his way to cover the case.

The case is still under trial even after two years after the case and the family members have to travel 378 kilometres to Lucknow for the hearing in the case. The travails of the family have been covered by The Mooknayak.

2002 Bilkis Bano case

During the 2002 riotsBilkisBano was five months pregnant when seven members of her family were killed and she was brutally gang-raped. In 2008 a lower court convicted all eleven accused in the case. The conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court in 2017.  In 2019, The Supreme Court also ordered the Gujarat government to pay BilkisBano  Rs 50 lakh and provide her with a government job and housing in her area.

But in 2022, all eleven members were released by the Gujarat government after a panel recommended remission. The panel included two BJP legislators of that time

In August 2022, the  Supreme Court agreed to look into the release of the accused.

The Mooknayak spoke to Social activist Roop Rekha Verma to know the reasons behind the contrast between the response to Nirbhaya gang rape case and other cases after that. Verma targeted the Civil Society for its lax attitude "it becomes a very selective affair sometimes". She recounts that within a week of the Nirbhaya rape case there was another incident which matched the brutality of a Nirbhaya rape case, but it gained no traction. She also pinned it on the media for selectively remembering the Delhi gang rape of 2016.

The former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University also opines that the activists raise their voices based on the type of government "it is a matter of shame of the activists that voices are raised taking into consideration the fact that whether it is a liberal government or a dictatorial government".

Speaking about the Bilkis Bano Case, she says that the release has not generated public outrage against the government to the degree it was supposed to do and added that if someone takes up the cudgels on the basis of the religion of the victim then they are also complicit in the crime.

However, Supreme Court dismissed Review plea filled by Bilkis Bano against the remission order granted in favour of the 11 convicts in the 2022 gang rape case.

As the horrific crime against the 23-year-old paramedic student completes a decade today. The fury it generated appears to be a selective hype, which fizzled out too soon. But all is not lost as can be seen from the conviction of Influential people like Ram Rahim, Bapu Asharam, and Kuldeep Sengar.