The
mother of a student who died after being gang-raped publicly named her
daughter for the first time Wednesday, in a bid to end the stigma facing
sex attack victims in India.
The
23-year-old student died after being brutally assaulted on a bus in New
Delhi in 2012, triggering global outrage and protests in India over the
country's high levels of violence against women.
Rape
victims are normally shunned and vilified in deeply patriarchal India
and they cannot be named under national law in a bid to protect them.
"I
feel no shame in naming my daughter. I say this in front of you all
that her name was Jyoti Singh," Asha Singh said at a public gathering in
Delhi to mark the third anniversary of the attack.
"You all must also from now onwards call her Jyoti Singh."
"There
is no need for us to feel any shame. It is the perpetrators of heinous
crimes who must feel ashamed of themselves," she said to roaring
applause from the audience.
Four
men were convicted and handed the death penalty in 2014 over the attack
which occurred after Singh was lured on board the bus with a male
friend following a trip to the cinema.
The Supreme Court has not yet heard the men's appeals.
Another
attacker, who was 17 at the time, is set to be freed in coming days
after serving the maximum three years in a detention facility for
juveniles.
The
victim's father on Wednesday criticised his imminent release, saying it
was unclear if he had reformed during his time in the facility.
"Almost
every day we read about even small girls being raped. If criminals like
him are let off I fear what will happen to society," he said.
He also accused politicians of lacking the will to end what he called India's rape crisis.
The
government introduced tougher penalties for rapists and other measures
after the 2012 attack, but India has repeatedly hit the headlines for a
series of brutal attacks including those of children and foreign women.
Women's
rights groups have also opposed the juvenile's release, mainly on the
grounds that it was unclear if he had been rehabilitated and was ready
to be reintegrated into society.
"We'd
like to know if he repents what he did and whether he can live amongst
us in society and not be a threat," said Ranjana Kumari, head of the
Centre for Social Research think-tank in Delhi.
The
National Commission of Women has also protested, saying his release
would do nothing to tackle a culture of impunity for perpetrators of
sexual violence.
The
country recorded 36,735 rape cases in 2014, with 2,096 of them in Delhi
alone, although experts say those figures are likely to represent only
the tip of the iceberg.
Source: AFP
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