A year after Delhi gang rape: Time stands still for braveheart's parents, pals
New Delhi: A year has passed since that tumultuous winter of 2012 when enraged crowds poured on to the streets of the national capital, protesting against the brutal gang rape of a young woman.
DC special: A year after Delhi's infamous rape
The victim didn’t survive her ordeal for long but her tragic death set in motion a chain of events that, just last week, blew away a 15-year-old smug and well-entrenched government in Delhi.
Yet, the upheaval seems to have been of little relevance to her distrau-ght parents for whom time has stood still. They now reside in a spacious flat in the suburb of Dwarka but it doesn’t feel like home. Their heart still belongs to that humble dwelling in west Delhi that was once the home of their daughter.
Also read: Rape cases doubled, molestation rose six times since December 16 gang rape
The room she once used to occupy is no less than a shrine for them. For it still embraces her memories — her clothes, photos, books, the walls covered in formulae culled from her books.
“Uska samaan chhedne ki himmat hi nahi hoti (We haven’t gathered the courage to even touch her belongings),” says the mother of the Delhi braveheart who was set upon by predators in a bus on December 16 and died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.
Next: Our tears haven’t dried, says father
Our tears haven’t dried, says father
When the parents of the Delhi gang rape victim shifted to a two-bedroom flat in Dwarka — which they received as compensation for her death — all that they carried along from her room was a small photograph of their daughter that they have placed within the small temple in the flat.
They feel her overwhelming presence. “Aankh khulti hai to sabse pehle mandir mein jaati hai... aisa lagta hai kuch bol rahi hai. Koi din aisa nahi jata jab hum toot nahi jate... ankhey num nahi ho jati... (I see her photograph first thing in the morning... Every time I see her photo, I feel she is speaking to me... We break down every day, thinking about her),” says the woman’s fat-her in a choked voice.
When she was admitted in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital after the brutal gang rape, she could barely talk, yet would not stop showing concern for her family. “She would hold my hand and tell me to eat well... comb my hair,” says her mother.
During her final moments in Singa-pore, the family did not leave Mount Elizabeth Hospital even for a second. Her younger brother says: “We kept looking at the monitor and the endless equipment... soon the vertical lines changed into horizontal, signalling she was no more with us.”
