December 16 victim's family says still hope for justice

BALLIA (UP): Though unhappy with the decision of Juvenile Justice Board, family members of the December 16 gangrape victim have not lost all hope of getting justice for her and plan to meet Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.


The father of the victim said that they have spoken to Sonia's daughter Priyanka Vadra and will also try to meet Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

"The decision is unfortunate... We will talk to lawyers. We want him (juvenile accused) to be hanged. We hope that decision on the other four accused will also come within next 10-15 days and they will get capital punishment," father of the gangrape victim told PTI over phone from New Delhi.

After the decision of the Juvenile Board, they had talked to Priyanka over telephone and she had promised to give time for the meeting within 10 days, he said.

"We will also try to meet Sonia Gandhi, Rahul ji, Sheila Dixit and Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury to ensure that my daughter gets justice", he said.

Asked about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the victim's father said that he had not met him till now.

"It would be better if he had met us and consoled us... but he has not meet us as yet," he added.

In the first conviction yesterday in the December 16 gangrape case, the juvenile accused was found guilty of murder and rape of the 23-year-old girl and got a maximum of three years imprisonment mandated under the juvenile law.

On the night of December 16 last year, the victim, a paramedic student, was gangraped and brutally assaulted by six persons in a moving bus in New Delhi.

The victim later succumbed to her injuries in a Singapore hospital on December 29 last year.

The four adult accused are being tried by a fast-track court in Saket in New Delhi. Another accused Ram Singh was found dead on March 11 in his cell in Tihar Jail and the trial against him has been abated.