The Daily Mail UK
written by Damien Gayle
Sunday January 6, 2013
The father of the 23-year-old victim of a horrific gang rape in India has given permission for her name to be revealed for the first time.
Badri Singh Pandey said he wants 'the world to know' the name of his daughter Jyoti, who died in a Singapore hospital 13 days after the brutal rape in New Delhi.
'I am proud of her. Revealing her name will give courage to other women who have survived these attacks,' said Mr Singh Pandey. 'They will find strength from my daughter.'
The brutal attack has caused uproar in India, with mass demonstrations for women's rights and calls for the six suspects in the case to be hanged.
The distraught father made his comments in an interview with the Sunday People, given from his ancestral village of Billia in Uttar Pradesh, a state in the north of India, where the family has gone to grieve.
He said he had no desire to see the faces of the men accused of the barbaric sexual attack on his child, he wants just to see them punished and hanged.
'Death to all six of them,' he said. 'These men are beasts.
'They should be made an example of and that society will not allow such things to happen.'
Miss Singh Pandey died died on December 29 in a specialist hospital in Singapore after a 13-day struggle to survive injuries so grievous that her intestines had to be removed.
She underwent three major surgeries - including one to remove her intestines - and suffered a cardiac arrest in India before being flown to Singapore for treatment.
Mr Singh Pandey told how his daughter, despite her ordeal, wanted to go on living. As she drifted in and out of consciousness in her hospital bed, she was able to communicate with her family through written notes.
'She had a feeding pipe in her mouth making it difficult for her to speak,' he said. 'But she did write on some paper that she wanted to live, she wanted to survive and stay with us.
'But it was fate that had the last say in the end.'
Miss Singh Pandey's identity was revealed as two of her six suspected rapists today begged a court to allow them to turn witness for the prosecution in a desperate bid to escape punishment.
Five men and a 17-year-old boy have been formally charged over the rape and murder of the medical student after DNA tests linked them to the crime.
Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma made their plea to turn witness as they appeared before magistrate Jyoti Kler to have their remand extended until January 19, India Today reports.
'Accused Pawan and Vinay have been directed to move an appropriate application to become witnesses in the case before the court concerned,' the magistrate said in an order dictated to the court room after the accused were sent back to jail.
Often in Indian cases where investigators have difficulty finding evidence suspects are asked to give crucial evidence in return for a lighter sentence.
But legal experts told India Today that in the case of such a heinous crime as the brutal sex attack meted out to Miss Singh Pandey it is unlikely that they will be granted the opportunity to lessen any potential punishment.
Two other suspects, Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh, pleaded for legal aid to help with their defence, and the fifth is not due before court until tomorrow.
The sixth accused - a minor - will have his case heard by a Juvenile Justice Board, the news website reported.
Miss Singh Pandey was raped after she and a male friend, named yesterday as Awindra Pandey, 28, were lured onto a bus as they travelled home from the cinema, where they had been to see blockbuster Life Of Pi.
In an interview with Hindi TV channel Zee News, Awindra Pandey said the gang of six men aboard the bus - fitted with curtains and tinted windows - had planned to trap them.
Once on the bus, he was attacked and Miss Singh Pandey was gang-raped by a group of allegedly drunk men, including the driver, who also violated her with an iron bar causing immense internal damage that lead to her death, he said.
The man, believed to be the only witness in the case, said he did his best to fight off the attackers.
'They beat us up, hit us with iron rod, snatched our clothes and belongings and they threw us off the bus on a deserted stretch.
'From where we boarded bus, they moved around for nearly two and a half hours. We were shouting, trying to make people hear us,' said the 28-year-old, who suffered a broken leg in the attack.
'But they switched off the lights. We tried to resist them. Even my friend fought with them, she tried to save me. She tried to dial police control room number 100, but the men snatched the mobile.'
The horrifying crime has appalled India and brought simmering anger about widespread crime against women to the boil amid angry calls for safer streets, more sensitive policing and changed social attitudes.
No comments:
Post a Comment