Kamal Palsaniya

Back in 2012, the conscience of an entire nation was shook by the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in the national capital, the city that was already gaining popularity as the ‘rape capital of the country’. The woman eventually succumbed to her injuries and died, shortly after being airlifted to Singapore in a desperate attempt to save her life, since the world was already watching us. The media, and the nation collectively decided to christen this woman as ‘Nirbhaya’, which translates to fearless. People have constantly avoided using the sufferer’s real name because our society invites a certain kind of disdain when it comes to naming rape victims. The gory details of the December 2012 gangrape surfaced, and since then, people have been measuring every rape with the ‘Nirbhaya’ yardstick, to decide on the level of brutality of the crime. Laws were amended, there were protests and candle marches throughout the country and only earlier this month, the apex court of the country uph...