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| Jyoti Singh Pandey |
Around 9:30 pm on December the 16th of 2012 Jyoti Singh Pandey and her friend Awindra Pratap Pandey, coincidentally with the same name, were walking home after watching the movie Life of Pi in the Saket area of New Delhi, India. Without hesitation, they decided to board a bus. There were a total of seven men on the bus, including the driver and now, including Awindra Pandey.
Shortly after they boarded the bus, Awindra grew incredibly suspicious because the bus started going into an opposite direction they were originally going and the doors closed immediately after. When Awindra confronted the men with his suspicions they began to taunt him and Jyoti with jokes. As the banter continued, the men began to beat Awindra with a rusty iron rod. He was beaten so badly he was knocked completely unconscious.
Jyoti began to panic and didn't know what to do. She tried to revive Awindra the best way she could. In efforts to escape, Jyoti was dragged by her hair against her will to the rear end area of the bus. When she attempted to fight back, they proceeded to beat her with that same iron rod (which was a rusted wheel jack handle) shortly before raping her. Despite the resistance and her cries for help, the bus driver continued to drive. Do you remember the iron rod used to beat Awindra and then Jyoti for defending him? The perpetrators began to take their perversion to the next level by inserting the same rod into her vagina. During this time Awindra regained consciousness. He realized what they were doing so he tried to fight them. The degenerates started to beat Awindra until he was completely knocked out again.
Jyoti Pandey was beaten so badly she was unrecognizable, she was raped to the level that her intestines were hanging out of her body, and tortured so horribly she was put into a coma just days after the assault. As she continued to bleed, these savages continued to brag about what they did to her before throwing her and her friend Awindra off the bus as it was moving. As both Jyoti and Awindra continued to fight for their lives, Jyoti was able to tell the cops some of things that happened to her including the story verbatim.
"The conductor of the bus closed the doors of the bus. He shut off the lights of the bus and came towards my friend and started to abuse and beat him. They held his hands and held me. Then, they took me to the back of the bus," Jyoti shared with authorities shortly after she was brutally assaulted.
"They tore my clothes and raped me," she told authorities. "They hit me with an iron rod and bit me on my entire body with their teeth. They took all of my belongings. They took my mobile phone, purse, credit card, debit card, watches, etc. Six people raped me in turns for nearly one hour in a moving bus." Jyoti continued, "the driver of the bus kept changing so that he could also rape me." Nirbhaya then said, "I heard these people saying 'catch them, tear their clothes, hit them, take their bag' and using abusive language. Ram Singh, Thakkur, Raju, Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay were their names."
Jyoti also shared with authorities, "Half the time I was unconscious, but whenever I came to consciousness they beat me up. My friend tried to save me but these people beat him with an iron rod. They removed all the clothes of my friend and they thought we had both died. They threw us out of the moving bus. We were both naked on the side of the road and many who passed by saw us and informed the police."
She also made her family promise her to never stop fighting for her, whether or not she lived through it. She went so far to even write on piece of paper "I want to survive" shortly before handing the paper to her doctors. However, after days of fighting, Pandey underwent a series of surgeries to correct both her internal and external injuries, which included removal of her remaining intestine. She suffered a series of complications from these surgeries including pneumonia and stomach infections shortly before she was declared brain dead. Relying heavily on the power of prayer, her injuries were too severe. And sadly, Jyoti Singh Pandey tragically lost her life on Saturday, December the 29th of 2012.
And 24-hours after the crime was reported, the police were able to trace the suspects. They included Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh Singh (who was the bus driver) from South Delhi, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta from Uttar Pradesh, and Ashkay Thakur from New Delhi. Raju Singh or Raju Sangwan, who was a minor at the time of the crime was never fully charged for his part, as he was only 17-years old when the 2012 Delhi Rape occurred.
In March of 2014, almost two years after the death of Jyoti Pandey—Ram Singh, Ashkay Thakur, and Vinay Sharma were charged and sentenced to death. Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta decided to try to appeal the decision. Ram Singh, who was described as the worst of the group was found dead of an apparent suicide by hanging; however, theorists believe he was murdered. Furthermore, both Singh and Gupta lost their appeals.
Raj, the youngest of the perpetrators, who was just 17-years old at the time is now a free man according to sources. He did little-to-no time at all yet was part of the crime with five other men. Although there is speculation Raj is a free man, his future is not bright and the public will never forgive nor forget what he did to Jyoti on that cold dark December night in 2012.
The question remains: has justice been rightfully served here? And if so, how is this justifed? According to Jyoti Singh Pandey's parents Asha Devi and Badrinath Singh, it has not. "We are still waiting for justice to be served," the couple shared in regards to their daughter's rape and murder. Jyoti's Singh's last words were her pleading and begging her parents to get justice for what happened which is exactly what they will continue to do for the rest of their lives. We can only hope justice is served indefinitely. Jai Mata Di!
And 24-hours after the crime was reported, the police were able to trace the suspects. They included Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh Singh (who was the bus driver) from South Delhi, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta from Uttar Pradesh, and Ashkay Thakur from New Delhi. Raju Singh or Raju Sangwan, who was a minor at the time of the crime was never fully charged for his part, as he was only 17-years old when the 2012 Delhi Rape occurred.
In March of 2014, almost two years after the death of Jyoti Pandey—Ram Singh, Ashkay Thakur, and Vinay Sharma were charged and sentenced to death. Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta decided to try to appeal the decision. Ram Singh, who was described as the worst of the group was found dead of an apparent suicide by hanging; however, theorists believe he was murdered. Furthermore, both Singh and Gupta lost their appeals.
Raj, the youngest of the perpetrators, who was just 17-years old at the time is now a free man according to sources. He did little-to-no time at all yet was part of the crime with five other men. Although there is speculation Raj is a free man, his future is not bright and the public will never forgive nor forget what he did to Jyoti on that cold dark December night in 2012.
The question remains: has justice been rightfully served here? And if so, how is this justifed? According to Jyoti Singh Pandey's parents Asha Devi and Badrinath Singh, it has not. "We are still waiting for justice to be served," the couple shared in regards to their daughter's rape and murder. Jyoti's Singh's last words were her pleading and begging her parents to get justice for what happened which is exactly what they will continue to do for the rest of their lives. We can only hope justice is served indefinitely. Jai Mata Di!
Comments
This crime happened when I was in Delhi. I can not forget the fear, the sadness and the anger this incident had instigated in all the women in India.