Yesterday, December 16, 2013, marked the one year anniversary of the woman who was gang raped on a bus in New Delhi, India that made the world gasp and then a country move towards working on stopping these acts of violence against women the world over. The thing is, we never learned her name at that time. She was just a faceless statistic, as many others are.
Jyoti.
Her name was Jyoti. Her father came forward this year in January to tell us her name. He wanted the world to know her name. And it is Jyoti.
?My daughter didn’t do anything wrong, she died while protecting herself.
?I am proud of her. Revealing her name will give courage to other women who have survived these attacks. They will find strength from my daughter.?
Her life.
Jyoti was a twenty-three year- old recent medical school graduate.?The day of the attack she was brutally raped and beaten before being tossed into a ditch and left to die in New Delhi. She and a male comrade were tricked into getting on the bus that the four men were driving, before they perpetuated this horrendous crime against her. Later, the four men were found guilty and convicted to all eleven charges against them- including rape and murder.
She was tortured for two and a half hours, then tossed out as if she were trash, as if she were worthless. Her name was then kept under wraps, which made it harder to put a face to what was done but became known as The Daughter of India.
The world waited with bated breath to hear whether or not that Jyoti would recover. She fought valiantly for her life as she fought against her attackers, but, on December 28, 2012, she passed away. Her injuries and the trauma to her body were too numerous for her to continue the battle for her life.
Her legacy.
After her death, while her life was taken from her by these brutal men who thought to objectify her and then toss her aside for their own power, her legacy still lives on. Progress has been made in India, due to soul searching and protests across the country, to ensure that women are safer and that this war on women comes to an end.
- The government has passed new laws, carrying a MINIMUM of a 20 year sentence for rape.
- Stalking, voyeurism, and sexual harassment are now crimes in India.
- Fast track courts have been introduced for rape.
But women are still afraid. While the laws have changed, many of the thoughts regarding women have not changed at all. And it is not just present in India, but across the world. It is even present here in America.
Remember her.
Her name was Jyoti. She was a twenty three year old medical school graduate, who had a loving family and aspirations and dreams. All of that was brutally taken away from her because of four men who sought to exercise power over her that they did not have.
Her name was Jyoti. Never forget.
