New Delhi: The Delhi “braveheart” who died on Saturday came from a humble family originally from Uttar Pradesh and was a part-time tutor in order to pay for her school and college fees.
Born into a family from Ballia, family friends said the young woman was hard-working and desired to forge ahead in life.
Sources close to the family said they moved to the national capital 25 years ago. They settled in a middle-class neighbourhood in southwest Delhi where she was born 23 years ago.
The girl’s father, seeing her brilliance in academics, took loans to finance her higher studies.
After her education, she went to Dehradun to train as a physiotherapist. She returned to Delhi and started as an intern in a private hospital in north Delhi.
As she was the eldest in the family, her family was convinced that her sucess in academics would inspire her two younger brothers too.
“Like any family they dreamt of their daughter getting a better job and a better salary,” a source said.
The dreams were shattered when she became victim to a gang-rape on December 16, the beginning of a 13-day agonising struggle for life that ended in her death in Singapore on Saturday.
With her death, the rape victim’s name has entered into the list of statistics but the brutality of the assault on her has provoked widespread anger and demonstrations across India.
What has given strength to the protestors was the victim’s undying will to live. Her spirit remained unbroken and while being treated at the Safdurjung Hospital she is reported to have written on a piece of paper, “Mother, I want to live.”
As she continues to live in the hearts of millions, for Delhi, it has been a winter of discontent. With her passing, protestors have resolved not to let her death go in vain.
But in the midst of concern for their daughter, while the parents have shed tears and spent sleepless nights, the victim’s 19-year-old brother had shown both his steely reserve and his outrage.
“It is like the life we had earlier lived never existed. Every day is passing by in a flash. When I switch on the TV or log on to a social network site, I see these emotional outbursts. It is hard to digest that this is my sister they are talking about,” he said.
In fact, the first time he saw the pseudonym (used in lieu of his sister’s name) flashing on TV, he is known to have raised the issue with doctors and police officers. He thought the channel had got her name wrong, but was pacified and re-assured that the name would not come out.
The youngster faced a tough time when every now and then someone would tweet that his sister was dead. And then re-tweet to say it was a rumour. He said, one day he was pained to find some channels reporting – the girl had a two-hour conversation, she had walked and she smiled.
“That night, my mother and sister hardly slept. It was a long and bad night for us, even while people began saying she was on her feet. I was very tired and angry.”
Trauma
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chhaya Verma, who had met the victim said, “I had spoken to her briefly. She wanted to talk, but we asked her not to. She was able to write legibly and made eye contact.”
The officer said, “Her condition had been so bad the first night that no police officer was allowed to meet her till morning.”
While at Safdarjung Hospital, the victim had enquired about her friend, who was with her on the fateful night of the incident. “She had kept requesting to see him and he visited her and spent about 15 minutes with my mother,” her brother added.
The friend, a 28-year-old man, having an engineering degree, was living in the national capital for the last four years to prepare for the civil services examinations.
His father, a lawyer in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh had rushed to Delhi on hearing about his son’s accident. He later said, “My son is in a trauma. It will take him months to recover and I intend taking him back to stay with the family. “
Even while the protests were on and people injured, the father of the victim had made an appeal for peace. But a day later, he drew into his shell, despite repeated requests from the media.
The victim’s brother had said that the family was upset that a wrong message had gone out. It seemed like they did not want protests, though this was not at all the case. “We are suffering so much, why should we be against the movement?” he maintained.
He said that his sister was not aware that her intestines had been removed. And nor was she aware of the extent of protests, as she even asked mother if she had told anyone what happened.
With inputs from IANS
