Two years after Nirbhaya incident, has Delhi really changed?

NEW DELHI, Dec 14:
With three days to go for the ‘Nirbhaya’ incident completing two years, her parents feel distraught and say they have not got justice so far and as long as the mindset of the society did not change, women could never be safe on Delhi’s roads. “We will never recover ever and she is very much alive within us. We have not yet got justice. As long as the mindset of the society is not changed women cannot be safer on the roads of Delhi,” Nirbhaya’s father said.
“We want all the culprits including the one who was juvenile at the time of the incident, to be hanged as soon as possible so that we are able to sleep in peace,” said the 49-year-old father. The December 29, 2012, incident which triggered an outrage not only in India but across the world, depicted the national capital as an unsafe place for women.
The recent UBER cab incident, a reminder of the December 16, 2012, incident raises many questions on the safety of women in the capital. Many working women, students, foreign nationals still feel that measures need to be taken to review measures to ensure security and safety of women in Delhi and the NCR.
“The action to ban UBER or pubs or drinking or arresting couples on valentine’s day is another fake and dogmatic attitude to handle such situation. Make stringent and safe laws. If you can’t castrate the rapist than atleast give them life imprisonment,” says Atyasha Singh who works with a media organization.
Another student from Delhi feels that the bus was considered an unsafe option post December 16, 2012 but with recent Uber incident even cabs are unsafe.
“Nothing has changed since the Nirbhaya incident. The main problem is the lack of proper system to regulate cab, auto, bus drivers,” says Nisha Sharma who is also a student.
According to government statistics, a woman is raped every 17 minutes in India. Although things started to change but unfortunately more cases of sexual violence including rape has been reported in Delhi in the last two years. A senior police officer said there had been a surge in the number of rape cases filed in 2014 from 2013 and overall there are over 3500 cases filed post Nirbhaya incident in the capital.
“In 2013 there has been 1636 rape cases filed while in 2014 the number of case filed has surged to 2019,” said a senior Delhi police official. However, crime statistics and prosecution rates show that most of these crimes go unnoticed, unreported while most rape cases are filed against persons who are known to the victim.
According to a study by Delhi Police, most of the rape victims in the nation capital are below 18 years and majority of the incident have happened within family or men known to the victim. Apart from statistical figures, if we talk of the change in mindset and stringent laws little has been done to curb such heinous crime. (UNI)