Feb 03, 2013: New Delhi - It's more than one and a half month since the gang-rape incident took place in the national capital, but the family of the victim still feels devastated with the loss of their daughter who was assaulted to death by a group of six men in Delhi.
At a time when the fast-track court in Delhi has started the trial proceedings against the five adult accused, the father of the 23-year-old student has described her as 'the hero' of her family.
In a country where women are routinely pushed into lives of subservience, the bright physiotherapy student - affectionately called 'bitiya', or 'little daughter' by her parents - was going to lift her family out of poverty, Daily Mail reported.
'Without her we are lost,' said her grief-stricken father, who spoke out after the trial of five of the alleged attackers got underway at a fast-track court in India, adding: 'I want them to hang'.
Her mother, who told her cherished daughter that if she studied hard she could escape a life of poverty, said her 'dream has ended' with her child's death, reported The Daily Mail.
While the family was poor, 'life was good', the girl's father said, adding: 'She was the hero of the film in our family. Always happy. Always laughing.'
'Now that she is gone I can't even see tomorrow clearly. I have no idea about the future.'
She worked night shifts at a call centre to help cover her rent and fees at a college in the Himalayan foothills. Most days she slept for just a few hours in her rented room, and her parents would call her every morning to ensure she got up for class.
Three weeks after the 23-year-old died, her parents learned that she had passed her final exams.
The five adult accused in the Delhi gang-rape will be tried for murder, gang-rape, sodomy and kidnapping.
The accused, Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh, Vinay, Pawan and Akshay have been charged with 13 counts of murder, gang-rape, sodomy and kidnapping and their trial would begin from Tuesday, February 5.
However, the sixth accused will be tried separately after the Juvenile Justice Board declared him a ‘minor’ going by the school records. The board also rejected the plea for his bone ossification test. If convicted, the minor would only face 3-years in a reform facility. In the chargesheet, the police described him as "an equal participant in the crime" and believes he was the most depraved of the six attackers.
Earlier on Saturday, the brother of the Delhi gangrape victim said just as the government took a positive initiative in the direction of stringent anti-rape law, it should also frame a law to reduce the age of juvenile immediately.
Centre's move to pass an ordinance, through which death penalty could be awarded in case of rape leading to death of victim, has received support from the brother of Delhi gang-rape victim.
He told a news agency over phone today that public outrage nationally and internationally after the brutal incident had forced the Centre to frame stringent law.
The brother said the Centre's move to make provisions for death penalty in case of rape and murder, and life term in case of rape, was an appreciable step, and hoped that it would now pave the way for capital punishment to the accused in the Delhi gang-rape case.
The 23-year-old paramedical student was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in December last year. She died a few days later in a Singapore hospital.
Rape that leads to death of the victim or leaving her in a vegetative state can attract death penalty under an ordinance cleared by the Union Cabinet last night, incorporating the Justice JS Verma Committee recommendations on tightening rape laws in the country.