Nirbhaya's was one of the 24,923 recorded cases of rape in 2012, according to data compiled by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB). This meant 68.28 cases of rape were registered every day on an average every day.

Nirbhaya had been gangraped in a moving bus in Delhi by six people including a juvenile. Four were convicted and sentenced to death by a fast track court. The decision was upheld in a protracted legal fight in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court before their hanging was fixed for March 20.

The brutality of the gangrape of Nirbhaya had shocked the conscience of the country with news media giving full coverage to the protests on the streets of Delhi and other cities. It led to setting up of a special commission and change of laws making punishment for rape more stringent.

However, there was another case of gangrape the same day as Nirbhaya's. That case happened in Tura district of Meghalaya. She was a minor and allegedly raped by 16 people, six of whom were convicted in 2014.

While the Delhi's gangrape victim had gone to watch a movie with her friend and was assaulted on her way back home, the Meghalaya victim had gone to watch the Winter Festival at Williamnagar with her friends and became an unsuspecting victim. She was hit on the head with bricks by her rapists.

The anger that poured on the streets in 2012 in the aftermath of Nirbhaya gangrape whose echoes were found in the Northeast also gave a sense that Indian society was becoming conscious of the way it treats women. It was hoped that growing gender sensitivity and more stringent punishment would bring down the cases of rape.

Seven years later, when Nirbhaya finally sees justice in her absence, the NCRB data released in January do not generate much hope for India's daughters.

If more than 68 girls and women were raped every day in 2012, the number increased to 91.38 in 2018, according to the NCRB data. Total number of rape cases recorded in 2018 was 33,356.

But this was not the highest number of rape cases recorded after Nirbhaya gangrape episode. This was recorded in 2016 when 38,947 cases of rape were registered. This means 106.7 cases of rape were recorded every day on an average in 2016.

The rape cases have not declined since 2012. In 2013, 92.34 cases of rape were registered. Total cases were 33,707 in 2013 followed by 36,735 or 100.64 cases per day in 2014 and 34,651 or 94.93 cases per day in 2015.

Year 2017 recorded the lowest number of rape cases since 2012 at 32,559 or 89.2 cases every day.

The numbers from NCRB files show women are not safer than Nirbhaya was when she was brutalized in the national capital. The reason for this could be in the rate at which cases are being disposed off through judicial processes.

The rate conviction in rape cases (including those pending for years) was highest in 2017 at 32 per cent. In 5,822 cases of rape, conviction happened from the courts.

In 2018, the number of rape cases ending in conviction was 4,708 of which only 666 were the cases reported during the year. Remember, a total of 33,356 cases of rape were registered that year. Rest of the cases will take years. Even those 666 cases in which conviction happened will take years before the final word is written.

Nirbhaya's case was disposed off by the trial court within a year but judicial process continued till today (March 19), a day before four of her rapists were set to hang till death.