Nirbhaya rapists hanged in India

Four men guilty of mass rape were hanged this morning near New Delhi. If the mother of the victim claims to have finally obtained justice, this does not seem to solve the problem of sexual violence in India.

The case dates back to December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old woman was raped by a group of men on a bus. Jyoti Singh, renowned "Nirbhaya" (which means"the intrepid" in Hindi), she died two weeks later from her injuries.

This drama sparked a country uprising against the government. For weeks after the young woman’s assault, the population demanded that we "hang rapists". One year after their imprisonment, the four men were convicted of the rape and murder of Nirbhaya and then sentenced to death.

The mother of the victim, Asha Devi, fought for years to have her daughter's assailants executed. On this March 20, 2020, Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Thakur were hanged at 5.30 a.m. (local time) in Tihar prison, near New Delhi.

"Justice has triumphed. It is of the utmost importance to guarantee the dignity and security of women", announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi via his account Twitter.

"We are satisfied that my daughter has finally received justice after seven years. The animals were hanged"Asha Devi told reporters.

Rape in India, a social problem

The tragedy had sparked a debate in the Indian Parliament on the best way to end the persistent problem of rape in the country. India has since changed its laws on this subject. Rapists are now facing life imprisonment. Repeat offenders face the death penalty. However, the number of rapes has not decreased in the country. In 2018, it was even significantly higher than in 2012. In India, rape is reported every 16 minutes.

Opponents of the death penalty believe that this threat of execution does not deter offenders and does not solve the problem. "It is very easy for the government to respond to these acts of brutal sexual violence with the death penalty. It is an easy solution, it sells well to the public. But it is not a solution at all. I think that it is clear that this will not prevent sexual violence or will have a real impact on the prevention of sexual violence in the future "says Anup Surendranath, a death penalty specialist at National Law University in Delhi.

The latter also denounces the use of absolutely frightening techniques by rapists to avoid prison. They do not hesitate to kill their victims to destroy the evidence and silence them. In 2019, one of them was burned alive while on her way to court to testify against her torturers.

Sexual violence in India remains a complex social and cultural problem. It is the main cause of crimes against women in the country. Victims are reluctant to come forward fearing lower quality investigations and the risk of intimidation. In addition, when cases go to court, most do not result in convictions.

Many believe that rape statistics will only decrease by attacking the patriarchal and archaic attitudes that put women in the background in society and see them only as a "baby machine". In India, rape is often considered to be a "shame"for the victim. To overcome this problem, it is the place of women in Indian society that must radically change.

Florence Foresti moved to tears at the testimony of a rape victim


Video by Juliette Le Peillet

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