To mark the third anniversary of the brutal Nirbhaya gangrape, her parents- Asha Devi and Badri Singh Pandey paid homage to their daughter. In a display of extraordinary audacity, Asha Devi took her daughter’s name in public.
At a meeting organised at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi, Asha Devi said she was proud to name her daughter, who came to symbolise the fight for women’s safety and security and became the catalyst for major changes to the law on crimes against women. “My daughter’s name was Jyoti Singh and I am not ashamed to name her.
Those who commit heinous crimes like rape, their heads should hang in shame, not the victims or their families.
You should take her name too,” she said. Nirbhaya aka Jyoti Singh’s parents also demanded that juvenile convict, allegedly the most brutal of the six offenders, and scheduled to be released on December 20, should not be released, citing he was a threat to the city. “On her third anniversary, the culprit is being set free. Where is the justice in that?” asserts Asha Devi.
Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Delhi Congress chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee, and various women’s groups had gathered at the Jantar Mantar to pay homage to the girl and agreed that it was the certainty of justice which can bring about a change.