NEW DELHI: Women’s safety in India has not improved since the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi, the victim’s parents said on Tuesday on the anniversary of the attack that sparked international outrage.

Candlelit vigils and a public meeting on women’s safety were held in New Delhi to mark the second anniversary of the attack that unleashed a wave of public anger over violence against women in India.

The mother of the 23-year-old student said she was disheartened by what she said were still high numbers of attacks, despite a tougher law against rapists.

“There are attacks happening everyday,” the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told NDTV news channel.

“Seeing this (daily reports of attacks), it does not feel like anything has changed. Everything is the same.” A survey published on Tuesday said 91 per cent of women saw no improvement in safety despite a series of measures in the aftermath of the attack including better policing, women’s helplines and fast-track courts as well as the new law.

The survey by the Hindustan Times newspaper of 2,557 women also said 97 per cent reported they had been victims themselves of some kind of sexual harassment.

The physiotherapy student was savagely attacked by six men after boarding a bus on her way home from the cinema with a male friend on Dec 16, 2012.

The student, who was also attacked with an iron rod, died from her injuries 13 days later but had been able to speak to police about the crime.

The brutality of the assault sparked large-scale street protests.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2014