Nirbhaya RIP

By Vijaya Pushkarna Why has Asha Devi, the gutsy mother of Nirbhaya, lost faith in the judiciary in exactly 10 days? On Jan 7, after a Delhi court issued death warrants for the rapists of her daughter Nirbhaya—the fearless one—Asha was happy that she had won a 7-year long battle for justice , she said it was victory for all women. She acknowledged there was delay, that she would have liked it fast-tracked, but reposed her faith in the judiciary. Nirbhaya was gangraped and left to die in Dec 2012. The brutality of it, the sadistic pleasure of a juvenile among the six rapists numbed the nation. Like Asha, many Indians wanted the harshest of punishment for them. One rapist committed suicide in the jail. One was a juvenile, whose punishment under laws __ rehabilitation__ governing the juvenile, angered many. Saturday, Asha Devi was on many television channels, at once sad and angry.She tried to reach out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “You came to power in 2014