Jyoti Singh would have turned 26 this month had she survived a brutal gang rape in Delhi two years ago.
Her death shocked the world and brought people to the streets. Crowds of angry protestors in India demanded the government do more to protect women. Feeling the pressure, courts expedited Singh’s case and sentenced four of the six accused to death. People hoped out of this tragedy, India would find a turning point.
But change for the better hasn’t come. In 2013, a year after Jyoti’s death, police figures published in the Times of India show reported cases of rape in Delhi skyrocketed by almost 230 per cent from 680 cases in 2012 to 1,559. And in the first four months of 2014, six rapes and 14 molestation cases were reported every day. That is a 36 per cent increase in reported rape cases compared to the same period the year before.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ashok Chand told the Times of India the increase in the number of reports is because police are making it a priority to document every case. But once again, the headlines are repeating. This time police officers are among the accused. Two teenage sisters in rural India were raped and murdered. Their bodies were left hanging from a mango tree. Hundreds of villagers staged a silent protest at the scene, refusing to let authorities take down the swinging bodies until their attackers were caught. So far, four men have been arrested; two of them are police officers.
Read more: Village protests rape, killings of Indian sisters
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India’s top court has temporarily stayed the hanging of two of the four men sentenced to death in Singh’s case. 16×9 travelled to India and spoke with lawyer AP Singh, who represented two of the accused. He claims that public pressure led police to fabricate evidence and beat confessions out of his clients.
Read more: Death penalty stayed for 2 of 4 men convicted in fatal gang rape of Jyoti Singh
“Justice won’t be delivered by candlelight vigils. Justice is not delivered by shouting slogans. Justice is only delivered by the truth.”
Watch a special encore presentation of 16×9’s “India Bus Outrage” this Saturday at 7pm.
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