Delhi
Delhi gang rapeThe 23-year-old physiotherapy student who was stripped, beaten and raped in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, passed away in a Singapore hospital after a strong fight against all odds.
Delhi gang rape accused lived on margins of India's economic boom
Reuters | Jan 12, 2013, 04.54 PM IST
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sing-song voice"
The details of the boy's life after he left his village are patchy. Even his fellow accused did not know his real name and called him by an assumed name, a senior police officer told Reuters. Police described him as a "freelancer" at a Delhi bus station, cleaning buses and running errands for drivers.
"He was a helper on buses who would solicit customers by calling out to them in a sing-song tone," the officer said.
He was popular with the contractors who ran the bus services and frequently changed jobs.
It was during this time that he met Ram Singh, the main accused in the case, whom he had gone to meet on the day of the attack in the hope of getting back money that Singh had borrowed from him, police said.
The juvenile went to Singh's house to claim 8,000 rupees but Singh invited him to stay for food instead, according to a police report. After the attack, police say they found the juvenile's blood-stained clothes on Singh's roof.
In an interview with Reuters, the friend of the victim who had accompanied her on the bus, and who was also beaten, said the juvenile had beckoned the pair to board.
"There was a young boy who was standing at the door of the bus and calling passengers in," the friend said by telephone. "He had a light moustache, very sharp eyes and a very sweet demeanour. He was thin and was calling out to people saying 'come sister, please sit'."
When they started assaulting the victim's friend, the juvenile "was one of the first to attack me", he said.
Singh and three of the other accused lived in a poor pocket in the otherwise largely middle-class Delhi neighbourhood of RK Puram, whose wide streets and tree-lined boulevards contrast with the dark lanes, communal taps and open sewers where Singh lived.
Many of the people who live there are migrants, working as electricians, auto-rickshaw drivers, day labourers, bus drivers, mechanics and street vendors.
Singh was a bus driver, despite an accident in 2009 that fractured his right arm so badly that doctors had to insert a rod to support it. He appeared on a reality television show in a compensation dispute with a bus owner, who in turn accused Singh of "drunken, negligent and rash driving".
Singh's neighbours describe him as a heavy drinker with a temper. One young woman said he used to get embroiled in violent rows and a relative recalls a physical altercation with her husband.
"I will make it big"
India's rapid growth over the past two decades, kickstarted by a period of free-market economic reforms, accelerated the process of urbanisation.
The world of the juvenile's mother is still one where carts drawn by horses and bullocks ply the lanes, and dung cakes are stacked in villages to be used as a fuel.
But in the cities, the old barriers of caste and gender are being eroded as India prospers. It is in this world that Vinay Sharma, another of the accused, wanted to make his mark, and aspired to the kind of life that the victim was striving for.
Passionate about boxing and body-building, Sharma earned $55 a month as a helper in a gym and wanted to enrol on a correspondence course, according to his mother and neighbours in the slum where he lived.
"He always used to say 'I will make it big in life'," said his mother, Champa Devi.
Like the juvenile and the victim, Sharma's family is originally from Uttar Pradesh, a state of some 200 million people where poverty is entrenched.
"When the police came around 4 or 4.30 in the evening, he was at home", his mother said.
"I ran after him when they were taking him away. They would not even tell me why. Even he kept insisting 'Ma, go back home, nothing will happen to me. They are just taking me to ask some questions. I will be back soon.' But that was the last I saw of him."
No comments:
Post a Comment