Long seven years of wait for justice, interspersed with 28 court dates down those years and a mental consternation which still lingers. One can imagine the pain of Nirbaya’s family which has become a virtual lamp post at the staggering under its own weight.
Dates and dates, a sequence which started on January 3, 2013 when the Delhi police had filed its charge sheet against five adult accused for rape, gang rape, attempt to murder and even trying to kill her friend.
And it went on throughout that year running to the doors of the law for nine times and the year ended only on January 1 when the Delhi court started hearing the case on a daily basis, raising hopes that something would happen sooner.
But the mirages along the stretch got longer and lazy. So the year 2014 came with a new hope for all including Nirbhaya’s family as the crusading duo, Asha Devi, Nirbhaya’s mother was never ready to quilt under many pressures.
It was a silver line in the darkness when on March 13. 2014 Delhi High court upheld the death sentences of the four accused, Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta.
With that, the year of 2014 came to an end. The next year, 2015 proved to be a big dampener when the Delhi High court, on December 20, denied a stay on the release of a juvenile and the latter walked out the juvenile home as a free and fair citizen.
Hopes came crashing
Whereas, it was earlier revealed that, he was the most brutal element of the total five accused, who did the grotesque dance of devils after committing the crime. Has he been corrected? Nobody knows.
The year that followed, 2016, produced something consoling as the Supreme Court of India started hearing the case and in 2017 the apex court upheld the death sentences of the four accused.
After the ghastly incidents in Hyderabad and then in Unnao, it was hoped that the files related to Nirbhaya could be closed. But, the year is coming to an end almost. However, it, 2019, was a years of events, hopes were built and were shattered.
When on December 18, 2019 the apex court rejected the review petition of one accused, Akhsya Thakur, and the matter was sent to Patiala House Court to listen to the plea on execution, it was yet another set-back for Nirbhaya’s family when the court fixed the date of hearing to January 7 2020..
