We Women Want: Parents of 19-year old rape victim share their ordeal

This week’s We Women Want episode is a particularly heart-rending one, where we meet with the parents of Kiran Negi, a 19-year-old girl who was kidnapped by three boys in February 2012 in Gurugram. When she asked for water, they broke a matka on her forehead. They raped her, inserted broken bottles in her vagina, threw acid on her face. Her body was found abandoned in a field in Rewari, Haryana.

ACKNOWLEDGING THE PROBLEM
Since then, her parents have been running to the courts to get justice, helped by PARI (People Against Rapes In India). While two lower courts have awarded the death penalty to the accused, the matter has been pending before the Supreme Court for over a decade. Even though Kiran Negi was brutalised and murdered before Nirbhaya, her case did not get the media glare or the justice it deserved. 

JUSTICE DELAYED
Kiran’s parents, Kunwar Singh and Maheshwari, came on the show, along with Yogita Bhayana, the founder of PARI, and shared their ordeal. Choking with emotion, Kunwar Singh said that nothing less than capital punishment would satisfy him and give him the closure he needs.

INSENSITIVITY
The volunteers, who work at PARI, also joined us on the show and narrated just how difficult it was to go to the police station and get a FIR registered. An indignant Yogita shared how the defence lawyer told the court that the boys had been ‘reformed’ and sought leniency, stating that at least they had not chopped the girl in pieces. This kind of insensitivity on the part of our legal system also needs to be highlighted.

INTIMIDATION
The parents also narrated how the accused threatened them in court and, as Kunwar Singh said, his biggest fear is that they would be released and come after them. 
The show was moderated by NewsX’s Senior Executive Editor, Priya Sahgal. It was an extremely emotional interaction as the parents laid bare their pain. We can only hope that Kiran Negi will one day get the justice she deserves. The parents will at least not have to bear the pain of running to court and knowing that their daughter’s abusers and killers can one day walk away free.
Catch fresh episodes of ‘We Women Want’ every Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on NewsX. The program will also be streamed live on major OTT platforms: Dailyhunt, Zee5, MX Player, ShemarooMe, Watcho, Mzaalo, Jio TV, Tata Play, and PayTm livestream.