Candles lit at Delhi bus stand in memory of December 16 victim

New Delhi: People lit candles and held solidarity marches in remembrance of the horrific December 16 Delhi gang-rape that shook the nation, as the victim’s parents demanded the juvenile convicted in the crime be given the strictest punishment.

At Munirka bus stand in south Delhi, where the 23-year-old physiotherapist trainee boarded the ill-fated bus along with her male friend a year ago, people gathered from the morning to light candles in memorium.

Groups of people, among them many students, came to the south Delhi bus stand to light candles.

The young woman, who was raped by five men and a juvenile in a moving private bus on December 16 last year, died of her injuries nearly a fortnight after the assault. Her juvenile attacker, who is reported to have been the most brutal of the rapists, has been kept in a juvenile remand home.

The parents of the victim are holding a prayer meeting at the Constitution Club, seeking peace for their daughter’s soul.

“People who are unable to attend this prayer session are requested to pray wherever they are, so that god gives peace to my daughter,” the father said.

Activist groups, like the Citizen Artists Group, have organised a daylong protest at Jantar Mantar, which would see singers and poets participating.

Family members and campaigners said the gang-rape shattered India’s silence over sexual violence and emboldened some victims to speak out.

As women gathered across the capital to mark the event, the victim’s father said the assault on his daughter on a moving bus on December 16 last year “shook not just us but the entire country and the world”.

“We will only say that this date should be celebrated... so that people keep getting inspired and keep joining this movement, coming together to ensure the safety of women,” the father told India’s NDTV network.

Her mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said her daughter’s bravery before her death should continue to motivate Indian women to “fight against such crimes and to raise their voices against such crimes”.

In August, the Juvenile Justice Board, which tried the juvenile accused, sent the perpetrator to confinement for three years at a reformatory home, the maximum punishment under the law governing minors.

The eight months he has spent in custody while under trial are to be deducted from the sentence.

The parents of the victim maintain that the juvenile, who at the time of the crime was only a few months short of turning 18 years old, would escape punishment by being kept in a reformatory home.