New Delhi: The parents of 2012 Delhi gangrape victim ‘Nirbhaya’ on Thursday backed Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut for lashing out at senior advocate Indira Jaising’s appeal that the convicts, scheduled to hang on February 1, should be forgiven.
Responding scathingly to Jaising’s request, Ranaut said the advocate should be locked in a jail with the culprits.
“That woman should be locked in a jail with those rapists for four days. She needs it. What kind of women are these, who are sympathetic to rapists? These women, who are full of love and sympathy for rapists and murderers, are the ones who give birth to them,” Ranaut said during a media interaction while promoting her upcoming film ‘Panga.’
The actress stated that the rapists should be hanged in public in order to deter others from committing such heinous crimes.
“Nirbhaya’s parents have been fighting this battle for a long time. I don’t think these rapists should be hanged silently. What is the point of capital punishment, if you cannot set an example? They should be hanged in public,” she added.
Responding to Ranaut’s statement against Jaising, Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi thanked the actress for her support in her struggle to get justice.
“I am thankful to Kangana Ranaut for supporting our fight to get justice. More such people are needed who can freely come out and speak in our favour. But it is a sad reality that today some people are only playing with my daughter’s death for political gains,” Devi told Gulf News.
Nirbhaya’s father Badrinath Singh said just because of people like Jaising who support rapists, justice is not done with rape victims.
“The entire country wants the convicts to be executed. But just because of people like Indira Jaising who sympathise with the criminals, our struggle becomes longer. I completely agree with Kangana Ranaut’s statement today. I am happy that people are coming out to support us, and criticising Jaising for her request that we forgive the culprits,” Singh told Gulf News.
Nirbhaya’s mother said she had no intention to become great by forgiving the convicts.
“By forgiving the culprits of my daughter, I do not want to become great. I am a mother whose daughter died seven years ago. All I want in life is to be able to secure justice for my daughter. I have no other wish,” Devi stated.
Jaising had earlier said that Nirbhaya’s mother should forgive her daughter’s killers like Congress leader Sonia Gandhi forgave her husband Rajiv Gandhi’s killer Nalini.
“While I fully identify with the pain of Asha Devi, I urge her to follow the example of Sonia Gandhi who forgave Nalini and said she did not want the death penalty for her. We are with you but against the death penalty,” Jaising had tweeted.
Nalini was sentenced to death for her involvement in assassination of Sonia’s husband and then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. In 1999, Sonia requested the President to give clemency to Nalini as she was the mother of a young daughter.
Meanwhile, supporting Ranaut, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ramesh Gupta said Jaising had no right to advice grieving parents to forgive criminals.
“I think nobody has any right to advice a grieving mother or a father to forgive the criminals who commit such heinous crimes. Kangana Ranaut said the same thing. So what is wrong in that,” Gupta told Gulf News.
While ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress refrained from touching upon the controversy caused by Ranaut’s statement, Gupta added that the actor at least “had the guts to say things which others could not.”
Kavita Krishnan, Secretary of All India Progressive Women’s Association, reacted to Ranaut’s jibe against Jaising and stated that the actress was promoting rape culture in the country.
“If you think it is fine to wish rape and gang rape as punishment for women you disagree with, you are part of the problem, you are promoting rape culture. Kangana, here is looking at you - you are promoting rape culture, shame on you,” Krishnan tweeted.
Krishnan said Ranaut was “totally wrong” in wishing sexual violence on another woman.
“I am disgusted to find Kangana Ranaut using her platform to wish sexual violence on any woman. For her to do so for who has spent her entire life fighting for and winning rights for women (dowry, domestic violence, sexual harassment in courts), is even worse,” she added.
