New Delhi: Nirbhaya’s brother is a pilot and parents Asha Devi and Badrinath Singh cannot stop thanking Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for making it possible.
“Gandhi taught us never to quit attitude,” says Asha Devi. Nirbhaya’s brother was in Class 12 during the time of his sister’s death and was deeply affected by it. “Rahul Gandhi was the one who counselled him and motivated him to achieve something good in life to support the family. Rahul asked him to pursue a pilot’s training. The tragedy hurt my son but could not stop him,” she says.
Asha Devi reveals that her son initially prepared for Indian Army’s recruitment examination but later found it difficult.
In 2013, he enrolled into Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, a government-founded autonomous institute in Rae Bareli — the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi’s mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
While pursuing his pilot training course, my son used to keep a track of the Nirbhaya trial, says Asha Devi.
“When he was studying, Rahul used to talk to him over the phone and during his 18-month pilot’s training course, he taught him to adopt a ‘never quit’ attitude. Even Priyanka Gandhi used to call us,” she said.
Badrinath Singh who works at the Indira Gandhi International Airport says his son has joined IndiGo Airlines and is already flying planes. “Gandhi helped us emotionally as well as monetarily and all on humanitaranian grounds. He asked us to keep this all in secret,” says the father.
Singh adds that he has nothing to do with Gandhi’s politics, “but the truth remains the truth, and we cannot thank him enough”.
Singh says that he has never flown in a plane and hopes that his first time will be the one flown by his son as pilot.
Singh’s another son is pursuing engineering in Pune.
‘Nirbhaya’ the victim of Delhi’s brutal gang rape was an aspiring physiotherapy student and a mentor to her two brothers. She had great ambitions in life and one of them was ensuring her brothers receive good education. Her life and dreams were cut short in December 2012, after she was brutally gang-raped. She succumbed to her injuries 13 days later.
She came to be known as ‘Nirbhaya’ (meaning fearless) in the days after her brutal gang-rape. The brutality of the crime was such that it shook the entire nation and triggered anger and protests on the streets.
All the six accused were later arrested. One of them died in jail while the rest four were convicted of the rape and murder and awarded death sentences. One of the accused, a juvenile, was convicted and ordered to remain in a correctional facility for three years.
(Agencies)
