Activist asks UN to announce Nirbhaya convicts' execution date as 'Rape Prevention day'

Women rights activist and founder of People against Rapes in India (PARI), Yogita Bhayana, has written a letter to the United Nations seeking to declare March 20, 2020, the scheduled execution date of Nirbhaya convict, as "Rape Prevention Day".

"Such naming shall help every Indian to understand what Nirbhaya and her family had endured and reaffirmed their vow to the vision of a rape free India. Just like Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated in India to not just celebrate Gandhiji's birthday but to celebrate Gandhi as a person and the ideals that he lived to protect," Bhayana said in her letter to the UN.

In her letter to Nishtha Satyam, Deputy Representative of UN Women India, the activist said that the government is doing its job by making laws and policies to prevent rape but efforts are needed to make women safe and lead a life full of respect and security at the grass-root level.

"If the UN declares the execution date of Nirbhaya's convicts as 'Rape Prevention Day', it shall add another feather to its cap by sensitizing this issue and making Indians aware of their mission towards women security. This shall mark as a strong step towards social justice and will have a huge impact on Indian society," Bhayana said.

She said that it took more than seven years for the judiciary of the country to conclude the final verdict for the heinous crime that insanely shook the world.

Bhayana said that the day of execution shall end the ordeals of a mother who fought like a lioness to seek justice for her daughter and expressed that execution day shall bring hope to all those who had pinned their hopes on the apex court of the land to set a precedent against rapes in India.

"This day, hopefully, Nirbhaya, who could not live to see it, shall heave a sigh of relief in heavens above us," she said. Bhayana also mentioned several other rape incidents including those in Unnao, Kathua, etc.

"Although, these incidents have brought one positive change. The awareness created amongst the masses is contagious. We, the people of India, have united in the war against rapes in the country, with a vision to create a sensitive society so that every woman in India can live without fear," she said.

This comes after a Delhi court on Thursday issued a fresh death warrant for the four convicts -- Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh Thakur, and Mukesh Singh -- in the December 2012 gang-rape and murder case for their execution at 5:30 am on March 20.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and brutalising of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.