The family of the Delhi gangrape victim today said it was happy that the girl's courage has been acknowledged by the United States which has selected her for a bravery award.
"She is truly deserving of the award and we are happy that her courage and bravery has been acknowledged," the victim's brother told PTI on phone from Delhi.
The brother said they had received a phone call from the US embassy two days ago after which three officials came to their residence in Delhi and took all the details about his sister.
The International Women of Courage Award would be presented posthumously by US First Lady Michelle Obama and the Secretary of State John Kerry on March 8, which is celebrated as International Women's Day.
To a question, the brother said the family had not yet decided who will go to receive the award and a formal invitation is also awaited.
Announcing the award, the US State Department said in a statement, "For millions of Indian women, her personal ordeal, perseverance to fight for justice, and her family's continued bravery is helping to lift the stigma and vulnerability that drive violence against women".
She bravely recorded two police statements while in the hospital, repeatedly called for justice against the six attackers, and stated her will to survive to see justice done, the US State Department said.
The paramedical student was brutally raped and assaulted by six persons in a moving bus in New Delhi on December 16 last year and she succumed to injuries in a Singapore hospital on December 29.
On December 16 last, the 23-year-old victim was brutally gangraped and assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi. She died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.
Besides bus driver Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh, the three other adult accused facing trial in the case are Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Singh. The sixth accused, who has been one declared as a juvenile, is facing trial before the Juvenile Justice Board.
The police has objected to the plea of the accused to use the CD as an evidence on the ground that it has been prepared in violation of a CrPC provision that restrains media coverage of the trial and inquiry proceedings related to a rape case, according to the petition.
The petition has said that the police had also questioned the authenticity of the CD.
The trial court had on February 2 framed charges against the five accused under various sections of the IPC for offences which include gangrape, murder, attempt to murder, unnatural offences, dacoity, conspiracy and kidnapping.
The trial court is hearing in-camera proceedings in the case on a day-to-day basis and has imposed a ban under the law on media from reporting the same.
