23-year-old Nirbhaya* died after she was brutally gang-raped on December 16, 2012 in New Delhi in a moving bus.
Nirbhaya’s case shook the country with protests across India.
Almost five years later, Nirbhaya's younger brother (name has not been disclosed) is a pilot, thanks to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
He has joined a private airline in India after completing his commercial pilot training and his parents cannot stop thanking the junior Gandhi for making it possible.
Nirbhaya’s father Badrinath Singh told IANS that the Congress leader helped the grief-stricken family in “every way possible”.
Rahul Gandhi, a lawmaker and son of India's ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, smiles as he speaks with the media in New Delhi Source: Getty Images
"My son (he refused to name him) is now a pilot. He completed his training recently. He has joined IndiGo Airlines and is already flying planes. And it is true it was possible because of Rahul Gandhi," said Mr Singh, who works at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
Mr Singh’s son joined the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, a government-funded autonomous institute in Rae Bareli, which is the electoral constituency of Rahul Gandhi's mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
"Rahul Gandhi made it possible. He looked after us after the incident," the father said, referring to the December 16 night when his daughter was brutally gang-raped.
"He (Gandhi) helped us emotionally. He helped us in many ways. He helped us monetarily. Otherwise, how was it possible for us to make our son a pilot."
He said the Congress leader used to counsel his son regularly and motivated him to do something good in his life and support the family.
"He suggested to him to pursue a pilots training course and got him admitted to the Uran Akademi in Rae Bareli," Mr Singh said.
Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi said Rahul's sister Priyanka also calls them over the phone. "She often asks about our health," she told Mail Today.
Share
