BIHAR STATE LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITIES

TOPIC:- NIRBHAYA CASE

SUBMITTED BY:- DIKSHA SINGH

INTRODUCTION

The victims, a 23-year-old woman, Jyoti Singh, and her friend, Awindra Pratap Pandey, were returning
home on the night of 16 December 2012 after watching the film Life of Pi in Saket, South Delhi. They
boarded an off-duty charter bus at Munirka for Dwarka that was being driven by joyriders at about 9:30
pm (IST). There were only six others on the bus, including the driver. One of the men, a minor, had
called for passengers telling them that the bus was going towards their destination. Pandey became
suspicious when the bus deviated from its normal route and its doors were shut. When he objected, the
group of six men already on board, including the driver, taunted the couple, asking what they were
doing alone at such a late hour.1

During the argument, a scuffle ensued between Pandey and the group of men. He was beaten,
gagged and knocked unconscious with an iron rod. The men then dragged Jyoti to the rear of the
bus, beating her with the rod and raping her while the bus driver continued to drive. Medical
reports later said that she suffered serious injuries to her abdomen, intestines and genitals due to
the assault, and doctors said that the damage indicated that a blunt object (suspected to be the
iron rod) may have been used for penetration. That rod was later described by police as being a
rusted, L-shaped implement of the type used as a wheel jack handle.2

According to police reports Jyoti attempted to fight off her assailants, biting three of the attackers
and leaving bite marks on the accused men. After the beatings and rape ended, the attackers
threw both victims from the moving bus. Then the bus driver allegedly tried to drive the bus over
Jyoti, but she was pulled aside by her male friend. One of the perpetrators later cleaned the
vehicle to remove evidence. Police impounded it the next day.

The partially clothed victims were found on the road by a passerby at around 11 pm (IST). The
passerby called the Delhi Police, who took the couple to Safdarjung Hospital, where Jyoti was
given emergency treatment and placed on mechanical ventilation. She was found with injury
marks, including numerous bite marks, all over her body. According to reports, one of the
accused men admitted to having seen a rope-like object, assumed to be her intestines, being
pulled out of the woman by the other assailants on the bus. Two blood-stained metal rods were

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retrieved from the bus and medical staff confirmed that "it was penetration by this that caused
massive damage to her genitals, uterus and intestines".3

THE VICTIM
The victim was born and brought up in Delhi while her parents are from a village in the Ballia
district of Uttar Pradesh. She was a physiotherapy intern. Her father had sold ancestral land in
order to help her continue her education. Her male companion, Awindra Pratap Pandey, was a
software engineer from Gorakhpur.

THE PROTESTS
The incident, when reported, triggered massive protests throughout the country. On December
21, 2012, public protests took place at India Gate and Raisina Hills. Thousands of people reached
to protest with the protesters clashing with police and being deterred by water cannon and tear
gas shells. They were also baton charged and some were arrested. Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev and
former Army chief General Vijay Kumar Singh too were a part of these protests.
In order to prevent further protests, the police closed down seven metro stations, restricted the
roads leading to India Gate. Curfew was imposed around Rashtrapati Bhawan along with CrPC
Section 144 to avoid large gatherings of people.
The incident evoked reactions from politicians as well, with the then leader of Opposition
Sushma Swaraj demanding death by hanging for the rapists. Then chief minister of Delhi Sheila
Dikshit had described Delhi as the “rape capital” in many interviews and said she did not have
the heart to meet the victim or her family.
Akhilesh Yadav announced a fund for the victim’s family, giving them a government job along
with Rs 2 million.4

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JUSTICE VERMA COMMISSION
Six days after the incident, a judicial committee headed by former Chief Justice of India JS
Verma was constituted by the central government to amend laws that dealt with rape to provide
sterner ways to punish such crimes. The committee submitted a report in 29 days after it received
80,000 suggestions for amendments to rape laws from many citizens including jurists, lawyers,
NGOs and women’s groups. The committee’s suggestions covered an ambit of offences that
weren’t included in the law before among other suggestions.
It recommended inclusion of stalking, voyeurism and intentional touching as an offence. It also
recommended more stringent punishments for rapists and recommended the addition of the
definition of “gang rape” in the law. The committee also recommended making marital rape a
punishable offence. It added other suggestions like gender sensitisation, police and electoral
reforms, and also a Bill of Rights. The committee also suggested a review of the way the medical
examination of rape victim was conducted.

On 3 February 2013, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 was promulgated by
President Pranab Mukherjee. It provides for amendment of the Indian Penal Code, Indian
Evidence Act, and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, on laws related to sexual offences. The
ordinance provides for the death penalty in cases of rape. According to Minister of Law and
Justice Ashwani Kumar, 90 percent of the suggestions given by the Verma Committee Report
were incorporated into the Ordinance.5 However, critics state that many key suggestions of the
commission have been ignored, including the criminalisation of marital rape and trying military
personnel accused of sexual offences under criminal law. In a December 2013 interview,
Nirbhaya's parents, Badri Nath Singh and Asha Devi, said they were trying to get the juvenile
law changed in such crimes as the rape and murder of their daughter. They petitioned the
Supreme Court to try the juvenile, just short of 18 when he committed the crime, in a criminal
court instead of a Juvenile Justice court. In a March 2015 interview with The Tribune, Women
and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said that Government is going ahead with a
law treating juveniles as adults in grave crimes.6 On 22 December 2015, Rajya Sabha passed

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the Juvenile Justice Bill, which proposed that the accused that are above 16 years of age will be
treated as an adult in the court of law.7

NIRBHAYA FUND
The Government of India announced the Rs 1000 crore Nirbhaya Fund in 2013. These funds
were aimed at supporting NGOs and other initiatives that aid in gender sensitisation and ensure
safety of women. The phrase “Nirbhaya Fund” came after the word Nirbhaya was given to the
victim as a pseudonym in order to not use her real identity, which was leaked in the media.8

ARRESTS AND TRIAL

Based on the statements given by Awindra Pratap Pandey, the Delhi Police filed charges against
five adult men for rape, murder, and kidnapping. The juvenile in the case was tried by the
Juvenile Justice Board, was found guilty and served three years in a remand home. He was
released in 2015. One of the adults accused, Ram Singh, died while in prison during the trial.
The other four adults accused were found guilty by a trial court on September 10, 2013.
They contested the judgment in the High Court which confirmed the death sentence awarded to
all four. They then appealed to the Supreme Court, which stayed their death sentence allowing
them to file an appeal. The court’s verdict was that the death sentence will be upheld.9

IMPROVEMENTS TO THE LEGAL SYSTEM

The outpouring of anger and grief following the rape and murder gave rise to hopes for change in
India. The government responded with the passage of several new sexual assault laws, including
a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years for gang rape, and six new fast-track courts created
solely for rape prosecutions. As an indicator of the scope of the problem of rape prosecution, the
"Nirbhaya" case was the only conviction obtained among the 706 rape cases filed in New Delhi

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in 2012. Between 16 December 2012 and 4 January 2013, Delhi police recorded 501 allegations
of harassment and 64 of rape, but only four inquiries were launched. However, it appears that the
"Nirbhaya" case has had an effect on the willingness of rape or molestation victims to report the
crime; police records show that during the final nine months of 2013 almost twice as many rape
victims filed a police report and four times as many allegations of molestation were made. A
recent report released by the National Crime Records Bureau shows that 95 percent of the cases
brought to the police were classified as a crime. However, there is a large backlog of cases with
fewer than 15 percent of those charged tried in 2012, leaving 85 percent waiting to come to
trial.10 On 16 December 2013, the one-year anniversary of the rape was commemorated in
London with a public memorial to honor the victim. Speakers included Meera Syal, whose
parents are from New Delhi. Speaking of the anger that was expressed at the time of the rape, she
said, "We need to hold onto that anger and demand that the Indian Government enforces all the
promised changes of its recent Criminal Law Amendment Act, which changed laws to expand
the definition of rape and incorporated new offences including acid attack, sexual harassment,
voyeurism and stalking". She also said that activists need to act in solidarity with other
organisations to stop violence against women and girls around the world. 11

Following the incident the government set up the Nirbhaya Fund to address violence against
women. The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry.
However, as of March 2015, very little of the funds have been spent to ensure women's safety. 12

PUBLIC DISCUSSIONS ABOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Observers agree that Pandey's ordeal has brought a change to public conversations about
women's issues, with men joining in the discussions as well. A young woman who had taken part
in the protests at the time of the rape said a year later, "A welcome change is that the taboo on
discussing rape and sexual violence has been broken. The protests brought debates and
discussions to our homes." She also said that since the rape and protests the media is now

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providing coverage of sexual violence. However, she saw "absolutely no change in the rape
culture and related brutality. The streets are not safe. Teasing [Eve teasing] and catcalling or
worse are to be found everywhere. Sexual harassment in public places as well as inside the home
is still rampant." She added, "I do acknowledge, however, that a year is too less to undo what
patriarchy has done over centuries. It is too embedded in our homes, our institutions and in our
laws. The police may be a little more receptive, but it is not out of a sense of duty but out of the
fear of censure". 13

A poll in October 2017, the first of its kind in the world, which was published by Thomson
Reuters Foundation, found that Delhi was the fourth most dangerous city in the world for women
and it was also the worst city in the world for women when it came to sexual violence, rape and
harassment.14

JUDGEMENT

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