On tenth anniversary of gang rape that shocked the world, the doctor who tried to save victim’s life reveals he is still traumatised.
Ten years ago today, Jyoti Singh, 23, was gang-raped by six men at the back of a bus in New Delhi.
She was on the way home from the cinema when she was dragged to the back of a bus in New Delhi and gang-raped by six men in a case that sent shockwaves through India.
Bruised and bloodied, she was abandoned on the side of a street after an hour of horrific abuse, with the group at one point abusing her with an iron pole.
Dr Mahesh Misra, who treated Jyoti, said he had never witnessed such ‘gruesome and unbelievable injuries’ in his 52 years in the profession.
He said: ‘The injuries that she sustained, I had never seen in my life before, nor have I seen since.
‘Ten years on, I still vividly remember her face.’I have never witnessed such horrific brutality by men before. It’s difficult to describe in words how atrocious this was.’
Days after she was gang-raped and beaten, Jyoti died while surrounded by her parents and two brothers. She died from her injuries in a Singapore hospital 13 days later.
Jyoti’s death sparked nationwide protests and sent shockwaves through India. But ten years on, hundreds of women in the country are still raped every day.
Yogita Bhayana, who attended those nationwide protests after Jyoti’s gang-rape and murder, said:
‘We feel cheated ten years on because nothing has changed. We are asking the same questions a decade on.
‘Women and girls are still being brutalised. We are immune to it as a society.’
Yogita became a charity worker after she was horrified by Jyoti’s gang-rape and murder that she set up a charity of her own, ‘People Against Rape in India’, to provide support and justice for rape survivors as well as to educate men and boys about violence against women.Â
The youngest rape victim that Yogita has worked with is a six-month-old baby girl and the oldest is a 78-year-old woman.
Last year, 31,677 women were raped in India – but that figure does not provide the full picture as many victims do not tell the police.
For Jyoti’s family, it took them nearly eight years to get justice.
She had been to watch the Life of Pi film at the cinema with her male friend when they boarded a bus to take them home to the outskirts of New Delhi on December 16, 2012.
