Still plagued by guilt and shock: 16 Dec victim’s friend
17 Dec 2013 4:58 AM IST
A year after the heinous incident that outraged the entire nation, the woman’s friend, Avanindra Pandey, said he is still plagued by guilt and shock, and will never be the same again for years.
The 29-year-old Pandey, who had boarded the private bus from south Delhi’s Munirka bus stop along with the 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist on that fateful night, said the only satisfaction he has was that four of the accused have been sentenced to death.
But Pandey has one more demand: the accused minor should be given harsher punishment.
‘I often ask myself if I am to blame for this? Why did I go to that mall? Why did I board that bus? I was not able to even speak properly for two weeks afterwards,’ Pandey, a software engineer, told IANS over phone from his residence in Ballia district of eastern Uttar Pradesh.
‘I survived that night and am alive to tell the tale,’ Pandey said. His friend died 13 days after the brutal attack.
Recalling the 84 minutes of horror he had spent in the moving bus as the rapists, including a minor, tortured and brutalised his friend, Pandey said: ‘When we planned to watch the movie Life of Pi, I had never thought that it would lead to the barbaric incident which is still a nightmare for me even after a year.’
He said after raping his friend, the attackers threw both of them out of the bus without any clothes on the cold December night.
‘I tried to get up and wave at the moving traffic. Some cars stopped, saw us and left without helping. A highway patrol van spotted us and called police and we were taken to the hospital,’ Pandey told IANS.
The young man, who was also injured, said he was deeply shocked to see how people kept staring at him at the Safdarjung hospital but no one even tried to give him clothes.
The 29-year-old Pandey, who had boarded the private bus from south Delhi’s Munirka bus stop along with the 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist on that fateful night, said the only satisfaction he has was that four of the accused have been sentenced to death.
But Pandey has one more demand: the accused minor should be given harsher punishment.
‘I often ask myself if I am to blame for this? Why did I go to that mall? Why did I board that bus? I was not able to even speak properly for two weeks afterwards,’ Pandey, a software engineer, told IANS over phone from his residence in Ballia district of eastern Uttar Pradesh.
‘I survived that night and am alive to tell the tale,’ Pandey said. His friend died 13 days after the brutal attack.
Recalling the 84 minutes of horror he had spent in the moving bus as the rapists, including a minor, tortured and brutalised his friend, Pandey said: ‘When we planned to watch the movie Life of Pi, I had never thought that it would lead to the barbaric incident which is still a nightmare for me even after a year.’
He said after raping his friend, the attackers threw both of them out of the bus without any clothes on the cold December night.
‘I tried to get up and wave at the moving traffic. Some cars stopped, saw us and left without helping. A highway patrol van spotted us and called police and we were taken to the hospital,’ Pandey told IANS.
The young man, who was also injured, said he was deeply shocked to see how people kept staring at him at the Safdarjung hospital but no one even tried to give him clothes.
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