Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Nirbhaya’s mother in New Delhi yesterday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said the government “will do its utmost for the safety and security of women.”
Modi’s assurance came during a meeting he had with parents of the December 16, 2012 gang-rape victim in Delhi.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s House said Modi expressed “condolences” over their loss.”
He also appreciated the efforts of the rape victim’s mother, who now runs the Nirbhaya Jyoti Trust for security and welfare of women.
The victim, who cannot be named under Indian law, was referred to by people and the media as ‘Nirbhaya’, or the brave one.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy student was gang-raped by six men, including a juvenile, on a moving bus on December 16, 2012 in the national capital. She later succumbed to her fatal injuries in a Singapore hospital.
Four accused - Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh - were sentenced to death by a court in 2013 which was later upheld by the Delhi High Court.
One of the six accused was found dead in a cell in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, while the juvenile was sent by the Juvenile Justice Board to a reform home for three years, the maximum term under the juvenile law.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will launch a mobile phone-based application “Himmat” today for the safety of women in the capital.
The minister will launch the application, an initiative of the Delhi police.
Himmat which will allow users to call the police control room and also trigger a 30-second audio and video recording at the press of the phone’s power button.
The app has been designed keeping in mind the safety of women.
Police said Himmat will help women contact police in the quickest possible time in an emergency.
A police official said though the app was developed keeping women in mind, it can be used by any smartphone user to contact police in the event of a crime.
The user will be asked to feed five emergency contact numbers of friends or relatives into the app’s data base. When an SOS call is made, a message will be automatically sent to these five numbers.
“This way, not only the police, but the user’s relatives and friends too will be able to come to her rescue,” the official said.
*A 30-year-old woman doctor who sustained burn injuries after acid was hurled at her at a crowded market here will undergo an eye transplant to save her from complete blindness, hospital authorities said yesterday.
According to the doctors, a new therapeutic device called “Prokera” is being imported from the US that would help in the repair and healing of the damaged eye surface of the patient.
Amrita Kaur, a doctor at the Employees State Insurance hospital, was attacked by two men on December 23 in west Delhi’s Rajouri Garden area. She sustained burn injuries on the right side of her face and eye.
“The patient’s eye injury is very grave and her cornea will have to be changed. The imported device will reach by Friday and after that we will perform the eye transplant,” Tushar Agarwal, additional professor of ophthalmology and cornea expert at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences said.
The transplant will be the second eye surgery to be performed on Kaur who suffered 45% face burns. The first eye and face surgery was performed on December 24.
