The girl's brother, Gaurav, 20, who has been quiet all this while, tells his father impatiently, "She didn't have any intestines, how could she survive? God knows how she lived for 13 days."
Now composed, Asha says, "Pata tha woh nahin bachegi, par hope the. (We knew she wouldn't survive, but we were hopeful). She drifted in and out of consciousness, she was in great pain, but initially she could speak. So we thought, yes, she will survive. We thought, we are family, we know her better than the doctors, of course, she will live.Par doctor hi sahi the (But the doctors were right)."
She died on December 29, 2012, uniting the family with a nation anguished and outraged over crimes against women. In those 13 days she lived and for weeks thereafter, India responded with people across socio-economic divides taking to the streets, braving lathi-charges, water cannons and police detentions.
"Two days after she died we went to our village (Ballia in Uttar Pradesh). There is no electricity there, no TV, so it was only after we returned on the 18th (January 2013), that we were told about the protests. Haan, logon mein badlav aayi hai, par kanoon mein badlav nahin aayi. Woh juvenile ko phaansi honi chahiye (Yes, there is change in society, but not in the law. The juvenile accused should be hanged)," says Badri Singh.
The Justice Verma Committee, which was formed to look into crimes against women, ruled against recommending the death penalty even in the rarest of the rare rape cases, and did not favour lowering the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16.
What this means is that according to the Juvenile Justice Act, the juvenile accused, who was 17 when the gang rape took place, faces a maximum of three years in a correctional facility or a remand home, including the time he has already spent in custody.
"Everyone thinks we want revenge for what happened to our daughter. Even if all five get the death sentence, our daughter is not going to come back to us. But if they are not given the death sentence, especially the juvenile, it will send out a wrong message to people that you can do something like this, and get away it. Those men have to be given an exemplary sentence and it can only be death," says Badrinath. "We were happy Ram Singh died. It doesn't matter how he died. It matters that he is dead."
Arthvyavastha bane ki aage kisike saath aisa na ho. (Law and order should be strong enough to ensure this doesn't happen with anyone else) No mother, no family, should go through what we are going through. No child should be raped. (In this interview conducted entirely in Hindi, the family uses the word rape never the Hindi, balaatkar.) Only the death sentence can ensure less crime," says Asha.
In what is unprecedented in rape cases in India, all the six accused were arrested days within the incident. A fast-track court was set up with hearings every day. A commission was set up on December 23, 2012, to look into amendments to criminal law for quicker trial and enhanced punishment to criminals committing sexual assault of extreme nature against women. All the five men will be convicted, though the quantum of punishment may or may not be the death sentence. That is the miracle she wrought.
Consider this: According to home ministry data, between January and November 2012, of the 754 rape accused arrested in Delhi, only one was convicted. Some 403 face trials, while investigations are pending against 348 and two others were discharged. Just one person was convicted for rape in this period.
Just as the incident forced the government to change the law, her parents changed perceived notions on women and rape survivors. That it is never the woman's fault. That the perpetrators should be ashamed, not the victim and therefore stigma should not be synonymous with rape, that the girl child is no different from the boy. This, in a country where courts have often pushed for the rapist to marry the survivor so that marriage could be her deliverance from the shame' of rape.
"Had she survived, she would have told the world her name. So how can we keep quiet?" asks her mother. Badrinath's decision to go public with her name did not go down well with the extended family. "Newspapers and TV reports called her a gang rape victim. We gave our daughter a beautiful name and I wanted the world to know her by it. Not as a victim. Humein uspe garv hai, sharm toh woh logon ko hona chahiye jisne uske saath aise kiya (We are proud of her; the people who did this to her should be ashamed)," says her mother
"So many people have told us that she has brought shame to our family. Lekin jo aise sochte hain unhe sharm honi chahiye (People who think like this should be ashamed.) The nation should be ashamed. It never crossed our minds that we should be ashamed. What did she do wrong? That she took a bus?" asks Asha.
The girl's brother, Gaurav, adds, "If we hide anything, it's as if we did something wrong. Didi ki koi galti nahin thi (My sister can't be blamed)." Gaurav is 20, three years younger than the girl. The third sibling Saurav is just 15 and withdrawn.
Their mother smiles, "We were so happy when she was born. He (pointing to her husband) distributed sweets to the staff in the hospital. People from his workplace came to see her with gifts. Not for a moment did we think, arre ladki hui hai (a girl has been born).
"We used to celebrate her birthday, all their birthdays. Not in a grand way, because we couldn't afford it, but those days were special. When she began tutoring children, we even boughtmithai and called their friends in the neighbourhood. We always lacked money, not happiness. Now nothing, absolutely nothing, makes us happy anymore."
In a country where according to government figures, 30 lakh female babies are killed at birth or in the womb, Badrinath says, "Humne toh usse kabhi beti nahin bulaya, I always called her beta. She was a son, not a daughter.
"In fact, the best decision I made was to sell our land in Ballia for her education," says her father. The girl was in Delhi in December on vacation after completing a four-year course in physiotherapy from Dehradun. She was to begin her internship in the city on Monday, December 17, 2012.
"I was told I should invest in my sons, not her, since she would get married and go away. But I thought that if I don't give her the money her dreams would remain unfulfilled. She wouldn't have been happy. And who am I to stand in her way? It was just a piece of land after all. As parents, if we can, we should never stand in the way of our children's dreams."
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