Families of Gang Rape Convicts Cry Foul

Courtesy of Betwa Sharma Champa Devi, mother of Vinay Sharma, waiting for the verdict in the Delhi gang rape case at her neighbor’s house in New Delhi. Vinay Sharma is one of the four accused in the case who was convicted on Tuesday.

NEW DELHIâ€" Champa Devi, the mother of Vinay Sharma, waited for the news of her son’s fate in a neighbor’s house where she was hiding to escape reporters who were camped outside the Sharma family house on Tuesday.

Mr. Sharma, along with three other men, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Thakur, was convicted on Tuesday in the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman who was assaulted on Dec. 16 in a moving bus in Delhi.

Another defendant, who was a minor when the rape was committed, has received a sentence of three years in a correctional facility, the maximum allowed by law.

The brutal assault last winter shocked the world and led to nationwide protests demanding justice for the young woman, who died from her injuries two weeks after she was attacked.

Ahead of the verdict, Ms. Champa watched the television news replaying scenes of the massive demonstrations that rocked Delhi in December and January. Images of female protesters holding a noose flashed on the screen. One channel was showing an interview of the victim’s parents in which they demanded the toughest punishment for the men, the death penalty.

When the breaking news ticker flashed with the news that all four men were guilty, Ms. Champa didn’t react for several minutes. Then she clasped her head in her hands, cried and wiped her tears.

While the voices of lawyers and TV pundits droned on in the background, she said softly, “The judge is wrong. He has beaten everyone with the same stick.”

As the realization that her son could be given the death penalty or life imprisonment gradually sank in, Ms. Devi howled. She vowed to go to the court for the sentencing on Wednesday and demand proof that the victim and the male friend who was accompanying her that night had clearly identified her son.

Ms. Champa said that her son’s lawyer had provided the court a video that showed he was at a music concert on the night of the gang rape.

“This is a government conspiracy,” the mother said. “I will speak out because I have the strength to do it. I have nothing else to live for. He is my eldest son. I gave birth to him.”

Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images Protesters demonstrating against the gang rape of a 23-year-old medical student in New Delhi on Dec. 19, 2012.

During the protests in December and January, many people demanded nothing less than the death penalty for the accused men. Intense anger against them has continued to simmer. Over the past nine months, families of these men have borne the shame and humiliation of their crimes.

While living with this stain, family members have desperately tried to comprehend how their boys could have committed such a heinous crime. As time passed, the confusion and anger has turned to denial.

Eventually, unconditional family love, especially from mothers and sisters, has led them to support these men - even if they are the most hated in the country. Their families have visited them in jail and sat in the courtroom throughout the trial.

On Raksha Bandhan, an Indian festival that celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters, the younger sisters of Mr. Sharma and Mr. Gupta trooped to the jail to tie on them the ceremonial wristband. “I love him. He is my brother,” said Sheetal Gupta, a seventh-grade student, last week.

On Thursday, Ram Bai, the mother of Mukesh, who goes by one name, stood motionless, staring at the night sky. In the moonlight, her white hair looked like a silver halo around her gaunt face, and her scrawny body was draped in a blue nightgown. Her eyes glistened with tears.

“When I sat next to him in the courtroom, sometimes I just wanted to reach out and hold my son,” said Ms. Ram, racked with sobs.

Another of Ms. Ram’s sons had been found hanging in his Tihar Jail cell on March 11, a month after the trial commenced. He was Ram Singh, another defendant in the same rape case. The Delhi government called it a suicide. The family believed it to be a murder perpetrated by the police in collusion with other jail inmates.

Ms. Ram, who was staying with her third son, Suresh, in Delhi before the verdict, blamed the media for the incarceration of her sons and delved into several theories to establish their innocence. “The entire media and the public turned against us. How could we get a fair trial?” she said. “I would like to throw you out of my house. Leave us alone.”

All of the adult defendants, with the exception of Mr. Thakur, lived in Ravidas camp, a crammed settlement of small houses and narrow lanes on a roadside of south Delhi.

The residents of this camp have also felt the long shadow of the Delhi gang rape. Many were scared out of their wits when a man tried to detonate a crude bomb in front of Mr. Singh’s home soon after he was arrested.

“Those were dark days,” said Babli, a 30-year-old resident who goes by one name, who recalled running out on the street with her kids because she was afraid of the bombs exploding.

Adnan Abidi/Reuters Demonstrators in New Delhi on Tuesday appealing for death sentence for the convicts in the Delhi gang rape case.

While Mr. Gupta’s family had moved to this settlement last year, the other three men had grown up in this camp. During the national uproar over the gang rape, the residents of the camp banded together in demonizing the arrested men, especially Mr. Singh and his brother. They blamed these men for being drunk and abusive and bringing shame and dishonor to the community.

Nine months on, some are still livid while others have cooled off.  Leelavati, 40, another resident, who goes by one name, said that she knew the men from childhood and that they were not the monsters the world thought them to be. “Look, the punishment should be for the crimes they committed. But they should not all be beaten with one stick to satisfy the public,” she said.

On Tuesday, many camp residents tuned into their television sets to hear the verdict. Kamla, a 45-year-old resident who goes by one name, said that she was very happy that all four men had been found guilty.

“They should be hanged. I could have shown some mercy if they had just left her after the rape. But they brutalized her and left her to die. If it were up to me, I would cut them to pieces myself,” she said. “Let their example be an example to other men.”

Others expressed sadness at the sealed fate of the local boys. Poonam Srinivas, 20, a teacher at a small school in the Ravidas camp, who attended kindergarten with Mr. Sharma, said that she was sad that her childhood friend faced the death penalty. “He used to be very naughty. I remember him climbing trees and falling down,” she said, sitting in the classroom where they used to play together.

Ms. Srinivas pointed out that the stigma of the crime had spread to the rest of Ravidas camp. “People say everyone in the camp must be like this,” she said. “I can’t say that I live here.”

Some residents expressed hope that the verdict would begin the healing process and lighten the black mark placed on their settlement. Others said that the furor over the Delhi gang rape had scared boys who live at the camp into being careful about their behavior around women.

“I’m overcautious,” said Ashish Singh, an 18-year-old college student. “If I see a girl coming from one side, I will take the other route.”

Betwa Sharma is a Delhi-based freelance journalist.