Closure…if at all

New Delhi, Friday September 13, 2013. 

The Saket district court in Delhi court finally handed out a death sentence to unemployed Mukesh Singh, bus cleaner Akshay Thakur, gym instructor Vinay Sharma and fruit-seller Pawan Gupta for rape, unnatural sex, murder, conspiracy and destruction of evidence in the bus gang rape case that rocked the national capital last December.

While the protesters, media and the victim’s family saw it as some justice and even expressed their happiness at the verdict, I guess, the victory is still far from complete. The convicts had denied the charges against them from the start and after the verdict was announced, their lawyers stated that they will appeal against both the verdict and the sentence. It implies that the verdict will be referred to a high court bench of two judges who will consider the sentence and the appeal. If upheld, an appeal to the supreme court is also possible and the Indian president can also pardon offenders.

Put simply, this means that the entire judicial process will perhaps still take several years – enough for the case to be wiped clean from public memory and media fire to die down and in the worst case scenario the death sentence for the killers changed to something that may put them back on the street. And yes, this is still a reality despite the fact that prosecution's case drew on the testimony of 85 witnesses, a statement given by the victim before she died, DNA samples, dental records from bite marks on the victim's body that matched the teeth of some of the men and the evidence of her male friend. This is the kind of thing that makes you scream – Damn !!!!

To add to this, one of the convict’s family member stated in a media interview that this (verdict of death sentence) wouldn’t have happened if the convict belonged to an affluent family. What this statement subconsciously implies is that if a person has enough money, he can get away with anything. One can only lament at this woeful state of affairs.

Sadly, this still doesn’t complete all the dimensions on the story. One of the convicts is married and has a young child. Now with the faces of the convicts splashed across all news channels, what are the chances that this child will have a chance at a normal future without being tormented for life with the ghost of his father’s deeds?

I would have still tried to see some closure on this whole episode by the verdict had the ground realities changed any bit but according to police data it is revealed that there were 1,098 cases of rape reported in the capital in the first eight months of this year, more than double the number in the same period last year. About 40% of the cases were registered in the first three months in the immediate aftermath of the 16 December incident. Yes, one of the reasons for this increase in numbers is that the victims have started stepping forward to report the crimes but the fact that even a death penalty in such a case hasn’t deterred many is still a scary thought.

To summarize, the conclusion is still hollow, the closure – far from received.