NEW DELHI -- A crime of unimaginable horror was committed in Kerala on the evening of 28 April.
Jisha, a 30-year-old law student, was murdered, stabbed over and over again, and her intestines were pulled out. She may also have been raped, but the police is yet to confirm sexual violence. Rajeshwari, a daily wage labourer, found her daughter lying in a pool of blood, when she returned to their one-room house in the town of Perumbavoor, which is around 216 kilometers away from Thiruvananthapuram.
As word of the crime spread, Jisha was compared to Jyoti, the 23-year-old woman who was gangraped in a moving bus in Delhi in 2012. She was brutalized with an iron rod, her intestines were pulled out, and she was thrown naked from the bus. When words - written and spoken - failed to express the collective horror which her ordeal triggered, people took to the streets to express their outrage at just how vulnerable women are to sexual violence.
In Jisha's case, no one stirred for five days after the crime. The town of Perumbavoor did not witness protests for five days after the savage murder, with people coming out on the streets for the first time on Wednesday. The police cordoned off the crime scene and called in forensic experts to collect evidence, five days after the crime. And it was on the seventh day that Chief Minister Minister Oommen Chandy visited Rajeshwari in hospital.
Why some crimes inflame passions, while others fade away as headlines, is not an exact science. But we have all moved on too quickly from Jisha, conveniently boxing her in with Jyoti, and reducing her ordeal to a "Nirbhaya" type case. It really isn't.
Here is what you need to know about Jisha and her case.
Jisha, a Dalit woman, was a law student at Ernakulam Government Law College. Her classmates say that she was quite friendly when she joined college, talking about her family, and her dream of getting a job and taking care of her mother.
Jisha lived with her mother and her elder sister in a one-room house. Her father had left the family several years earlier, and her sister went to live with her husband's family after getting married.
Her friends said that Jisha withdrew as experiencing financial problems, which forced her to skip exams, drop classes, and eventually she stopped coming to college.
Rajeshwari struggled to support her family, and keep her daughter in law school. Reporters, who met her at Ward No. 5 at the Kuruppampady Taluk Hospital, gave a heartrending account of her speaking about her daughter as if she was still alive.
Rajeshwari has told reporters that she and her daughter had a difficult relationship with their neighbors, who, she says, destroyed their water pipes, threw stones into their house, while men from the locality made sexual advances at Jisha.
Rajeshwari said that she had complained to the police about the harassment she and her daughter faced, but no action was taken.
Rajeshwari and her daughter believed that a tragedy was waiting to happen, Laila, Jisha's aunt, told The New Indian Express. "So, Rajeshwari bought a pen camera for the safety of Jisha. Whenever her mother went out Jisha would lock their house from both ends, and wore the pen camera," she said.
But their neighbors told NewsMinute that it was Rajeshwari who hurled stones at anyone who tried to speak to her, and that is why people didn't come to her aid when she was desperately trying to break down the door of her house on the night of the murder.
Chandy has offered Rajeshwari a government job and financial assistance of Rs. 10 lakh.
While confirming murder, the police said that rape could only be confirmed by autopsy reports. NDTV reported today that the latest police report before the court has included rape charges.
The police have ruled out gang rape, and confirmed that one man is the killer, according to NewsMinute. The autopsy report showed that 38 wounds were inflicted on Jisha. Her back was covered in bite marks.
Reports vary on how many men have been taken into custody for questioning. NewsMinute says four men have been detained. Tehelka reported that one can't be certain if the men being questioned are the culprits or the police is acting under pressure.
The police have released a sketch of a suspect and said they were looking for a man seen leaving Jisha's home. "We can understand that people are very angry but we have very little evidence to find the accused," Additional Director General of Police K Padmakumar told Reuters. "We are doing our best."
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Jisha, a 30-year-old law student, was murdered, stabbed over and over again, and her intestines were pulled out. She may also have been raped, but the police is yet to confirm sexual violence. Rajeshwari, a daily wage labourer, found her daughter lying in a pool of blood, when she returned to their one-room house in the town of Perumbavoor, which is around 216 kilometers away from Thiruvananthapuram.
As word of the crime spread, Jisha was compared to Jyoti, the 23-year-old woman who was gangraped in a moving bus in Delhi in 2012. She was brutalized with an iron rod, her intestines were pulled out, and she was thrown naked from the bus. When words - written and spoken - failed to express the collective horror which her ordeal triggered, people took to the streets to express their outrage at just how vulnerable women are to sexual violence.
In Jisha's case, no one stirred for five days after the crime. The town of Perumbavoor did not witness protests for five days after the savage murder, with people coming out on the streets for the first time on Wednesday. The police cordoned off the crime scene and called in forensic experts to collect evidence, five days after the crime. And it was on the seventh day that Chief Minister Minister Oommen Chandy visited Rajeshwari in hospital.
READ: Here's How You Can Help The Family Of The Kerala Law Student Jisha Who Was Heinously Murdered
Why some crimes inflame passions, while others fade away as headlines, is not an exact science. But we have all moved on too quickly from Jisha, conveniently boxing her in with Jyoti, and reducing her ordeal to a "Nirbhaya" type case. It really isn't.
Here is what you need to know about Jisha and her case.
Jisha, a Dalit woman, was a law student at Ernakulam Government Law College. Her classmates say that she was quite friendly when she joined college, talking about her family, and her dream of getting a job and taking care of her mother.
Jisha lived with her mother and her elder sister in a one-room house. Her father had left the family several years earlier, and her sister went to live with her husband's family after getting married.
Her friends said that Jisha withdrew as experiencing financial problems, which forced her to skip exams, drop classes, and eventually she stopped coming to college.
Rajeshwari struggled to support her family, and keep her daughter in law school. Reporters, who met her at Ward No. 5 at the Kuruppampady Taluk Hospital, gave a heartrending account of her speaking about her daughter as if she was still alive.
Rajeshwari has told reporters that she and her daughter had a difficult relationship with their neighbors, who, she says, destroyed their water pipes, threw stones into their house, while men from the locality made sexual advances at Jisha.
Rajeshwari said that she had complained to the police about the harassment she and her daughter faced, but no action was taken.
Rajeshwari and her daughter believed that a tragedy was waiting to happen, Laila, Jisha's aunt, told The New Indian Express. "So, Rajeshwari bought a pen camera for the safety of Jisha. Whenever her mother went out Jisha would lock their house from both ends, and wore the pen camera," she said.
But their neighbors told NewsMinute that it was Rajeshwari who hurled stones at anyone who tried to speak to her, and that is why people didn't come to her aid when she was desperately trying to break down the door of her house on the night of the murder.
Chandy has offered Rajeshwari a government job and financial assistance of Rs. 10 lakh.
While confirming murder, the police said that rape could only be confirmed by autopsy reports. NDTV reported today that the latest police report before the court has included rape charges.
The police have ruled out gang rape, and confirmed that one man is the killer, according to NewsMinute. The autopsy report showed that 38 wounds were inflicted on Jisha. Her back was covered in bite marks.
Reports vary on how many men have been taken into custody for questioning. NewsMinute says four men have been detained. Tehelka reported that one can't be certain if the men being questioned are the culprits or the police is acting under pressure.
The police have released a sketch of a suspect and said they were looking for a man seen leaving Jisha's home. "We can understand that people are very angry but we have very little evidence to find the accused," Additional Director General of Police K Padmakumar told Reuters. "We are doing our best."
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