Defeat of system, my 7-year struggle: Nirbhaya's mother on Unnao rape victim's death

New Delhi: After the Unnao rape victim succumbed to her injuries in Safdarjung Hospital here, Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi on Saturday said that the system and her seven-year struggle have been defeated today.

"The system and the struggle of 7-year have been defeated today," she told ANI.

"One daughter has left us today. We do not even have an idea that how many daughters are struggling with this pain," she added.

Nirbhaya was brutally raped in the national capital in December 2012 and subsequently died. Her mother has been struggling for seven years to get justice for her daughter and demanding death sentence for the convicts in the case.

Speaking about the encounter of the accused in the Telangana rape and murder case, she said, "Yesterday four accused had died and we were happy. Today this happened."

Devi said that women are struggling for years and they all get defeated every day.

She urged the Centre to fulfill its promise of providing a safe environment to women.

"I want to request to the President that mercy to rape accused should be stopped now. The rapists should be hanged till death. This is the failure of the government that rapists were given bail in Unnao case and they burned the victim," she said.

Nirbhaya's mother further said that the Unnao case should come to the Supreme Court and its trial shall be done in Delhi.

The Unnao rape victim, who was set ablaze while on her way to a court hearing on Thursday morning, died at 11:40 pm last night.

The 23-year-old was airlifted from Lucknow's SMC government hospital to Safdarjung Hospital.

According to the police, five miscreants allegedly threw kerosene on the woman and set her ablaze when she was on her way to a local court for the hearing of the rape case she had filed.

Notably, the woman had filed the case in March this year, which is under trial at a local court in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao.