Nirbhaya in the news
What Indians think of the news coverage of the Delhi gang-rape and the death penalty
The 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder captured the public’s imagination — and the media’s attention — in a way that was unprecedented in India. The case took on a life of its own, with constant media coverage and widespread protests demanding the death penalty for the rapists and a safer India for women. Today, one of these demands is closer to being met.
On 9 July 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentencefor three of the four convicts (one is yet to file a review petition) in the case. This verdict, like every development in the case, is being widely covered in the media — in news reports, op-ed columns, TV debates, interviews and more.
But what do the ordinary citizens of India think?
While most are horrified by the details of the crime, do they believe justice is being served?
What role do they think that the media has played in keeping the case ‘alive’ over the years?
Did the media fuel public interest and activism, or is it the other way around?
Could anything have been done differently?
To explore these questions, NewsTracker reached out to people across different walks of life for this special edition series of I Think:
Nainika Dinesh: It’s good that Nirbhaya got media coverage, but other cases deserve attention too
Manish Sidhu: Nirbhaya wasn’t the first; she won’t be the last
Dr Jayan Jose Thomas: The death penalty can only take us backwards
Sudha Chandrasekar: Castration would be more effective than the death penalty
Arshiya Zubair: The Nirbhaya case made Delhi ‘the rape capital’
Ganesh Chandra: The public outrage after Nirbhaya’s rape was futile
Meenu Venkateswaran: The media fed off the public attention Nirbhaya was getting
