Candles, flowers and tears mark one year since Delhi Braveheart`s death

Zee Media Bureau New Delhi: It`s been one year since Delhi gang-rape victim Nirbhaya breathed her last and left an entire India awakened, angry and pained. There will be candles, flowers, slogans and tears galore as scores of people will gather at Delhi`s Jantar Mantar today to remember and salute her unflinching spirit. Several candlelight vigils will take place throughout Delhi today to pay respect to Nirbhaya. Two weeks after battling for her life, Nirbhaya, a 23-year old physiotherapy trainee, succumbed to the deadly injuries perpetrated on her by six men in a moving bus.  She was gang-raped, inhumanely assaulted with iron rods and was thrown naked off the moving bus along with her male friend. The savage and unspeakable assault on her, shook the national conscience and brought people on roads to protest against the pathetic law and order situation in Delhi and crimes against women.

The December cold didn`t deter people from voicing their rage and the matter got heated up with scores taking to streets and enduring police crackdown. However, on December 29, the news of her death froze the entire country in mourning. A cold silence descended over the protesters whose hearts were numbed by the tragic news. Nirbhaya`s death became a turning point for Delhi and it triggered a slew of improvements in police and judicial system. Tough rape laws were enacted and fast track courts sprang up. PCR vans increased in number, women helplines also started working. But Nirbhaya`s father regretted that the mindsets haven`t yet changed. Speaking to Zee News, he had said that though the grave crime triggered the amendment in rape laws, it did nothing to bring a change in the society which remains as such.  On Nirbhaya`s first death anniversary, her kins will perform the rituals at Balia village in Uttar Pradesh. Talking to a news agency, Delhi braveheart`s brother said that they want to remember her away from the media glare in their ancestral village where they will hold traditional prayer ceremony and other religious rituals. "Our tears have not dried. With each passing day her memories get more intense. Someone is always crying at home," the aggrieved father was earlier quoted as saying by reports. Charges of rape, kidnapping, murder and destruction of evidence were slapped on the six accused, however one of them being juvenile was tried by the Juvenile Justice Board and sent to an observation home for three years.  Out of remaining five, Ram Singh was found dead in Tihar Jail in March.  Four other accused namely Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh were given death penalty by a fast-track court on September 13. Not fully satisfied by the verdict on the juvenile, the family of the braveheart had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking fresh trial for the juvenile in a criminal court. The family thinks that the juvenile should not get away with an easy sentence of three years by the juvenile justice board (JJB).