If this is justice,you might as well free him now: Delhi gangrape victim’s mother

But the JJB verdict on Saturday — the first to be pronounced on the gruesome rape and assault of their daughter on the night of December 16 — has laid bare their wounds again.

The mother of the 23-year-old paramedic student said her daughter,who succumbed to injuries on December 29 in a Singapore hospital,has once again been “let down by the system”.

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“What is the use of this punishment of three years? They might as well release him now… it will not make any difference to me or my deceased daughter… what was the use of so many procedures and hearings if this had to be the outcome?” the mother sobbed.

Family members of the gangrape victim said they had heard earlier that the maximum quantum of punishment for the juvenile could only be three years in a correction facility. But they had been praying “for a miracle”.

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“When I got a phone call from the hospital on December 16 about my daughter’s admission,I and my husband rushed…I prayed that it would only be some minor accident. There I came to know the true horror of what she had been through. When everybody,including doctors,told me the odds of her pulling through,I first prayed for a miracle. But none came.

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When the trial commenced and the debate about one of her assailants being a juvenile cropped up,I again prayed that the justice system would recognise the brutality of this case,and a miracle judgment would be pronounced. But it was not to be,” her mother told The Sunday Express.

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Her father said the JJB verdict would set a bad precedent. “This verdict has shown that there is no justice for women,and more so for poor women. It is a crime to be born a woman in this country. Every criminal will now try to prove he is a juvenile…we have already seen that in the recent Mumbai gangrape case,” the victim’s father said, breaking down while addressing mediapersons soon after the verdict.

The family members said they would be approaching higher courts to appeal against the JJB verdict and also put in a plea for a new medical board to be set up to re-examine if the sixth accused in the case was a minor at the time of the incident.

“No bone test was conducted to ascertain his age properly,an old village school document was the proof. It has never been proved medically,that he was indeed a juvenile when he brutalised my sister,and even by his own admission,he was only a few months short of 18 years. We will explore our legal options and move a plea to run proper medical tests to prove his age,” the victim’s brother said.

He said when the detention was pronounced,his family was in a state of shock. “When he (the accused) was pronounced guilty of raping and murdering my sister and his punishment announced,my mother broke down,and my father kept looking at the floor,numbed by the verdict. He (the accused) just stood there calmly,staring straight ahead. Is this what justice looks like?” her brother said.