India hangings bring end to gang-rape case, but no real justice
Until India accepts brutality begets brutality, plague of sexual violence will go on
It was a grisly end to a story that has been a stain on India for almost eight years. The hanging on Friday morning of the four men who carried out the 2012 gang-rape and murder of Jyoti Singh – who was christened Nirbhaya by Indian media, meaning “fearless” – marked the end of a drawn out and painful saga that exposed the country’s appalling record on sexual violence against women.
Nirbhaya’s parents openly celebrated that “justice” had finally been served, yet the crowds baying for blood outside the Delhi jail where the execution took place, bearing signs calling for “death to rapists” and cheering as news of the hanging was announced, made for uncomfortable watching.