NEW DELHI: The mother of a student who died after being gang-raped publicly named her daughter for the first time on Wednesday, in a bid to end the stigma facing sex attack victims in India.

The 23-year-old student died after being brutally assaulted on a bus in New Delhi in 2012, triggering global outrage and protests in India over the country’s high levels of violence against women.

Rape victims are normally shunned and vilified in deeply patriarchal India and they cannot be named under national law in a bid to protect them.

“I feel no shame in naming my daughter. I say this in front of you all that her name was Jyoti Singh,” Asha Singh said at a public gathering in Delhi to mark the third anniversary of the attack.

“You all must also from now onwards call her Jyoti Singh. “ “There is no need for us to feel any shame. It is the perpetrators of heinous crimes who must feel ashamed of themselves,” she said to roaring applause from the audience.

Four men were convicted and handed the death penalty in 2014 over the attack which occurred after Singh was lured on board the bus with a male friend following a trip to the cinema.

The Supreme Court has not yet heard the men’s appeals.

Another attacker, who was 17 at the time, is set to be freed in coming days after serving the maximum three years in a detention facility for juveniles.

The victim’s father on Wednesday criticised his imminent release, saying it was unclear if he had reformed during his time in the facility. “Almost every day we read about even small girls being raped. If criminals like him are let off I fear what will happen to society,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2015