Today is the 9th anniversary of the Nirbhaya incident. It was an incident that shook the entire country. The incident took place on the night of December 16, 2012, and a social media agitation broke out after the horrific incident. Not only that, but after some time, this movement came on the streets. Soon, the anger of the people started boiling and the government also swung into action and then the law was changed on incidents like rape of women in the country and at the same time, there was a change in the society. After the Nirbhaya incident, the demand to tighten the law against rapists across the country had gained momentum.
Within three months of the Nirbhaya case, the laws relating to rape and sexual harassment of women were reviewed, yes and they were amended to tighten them. One of the convicts involved in the Nirbhaya case was a minor at the time of the incident. Due to this, he was saved from the death penalty. It was only after his escape that the decision was taken to treat the criminals in the age group of 16 to 18 years as adult criminals and punish them.
The minor accused involved in the Nirbhaya case could not have been sentenced to more than three years under the Juvenile Justice Act, after which there was an argument as to how the rapist involved in such a horrific incident could be released in just three years. The Central Government had introduced an important bill in the House to look at and punish minors involved in such crimes as adults and the Bill was passed in Parliament.
In the Nirbhaya incident, the Central Government had set up the Nirbhaya Fund. 1000 crore stake was disbursed by the Government in the Nirbhaya fund. The fund was created to plan the relief and rehabilitation of rape victims and survivors. In addition, after the Nirbhaya incident, the victim's families themselves had come forward and called upon the people to come forward and expose the culprits instead of hiding their identity. After this, the atmosphere in the court also changed. The sensitivity towards the rape victims increased.
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