2012 Daytona 500, Race, After the race
You do think about, 'Oh, my gosh, if that can happen, what else can happen?' " Barnes, who worked at Michigan International Speedway and was loaned to Daytona for the 500, thanked the fans and Montoya for their concerns. International Speedway Corporation president Joie Chitwood III said that track officials abided by standard procedures when clearing the track, "The team was prepared. The expertise was there. The training was there. The teamwork with NASCAR was there."


2012 Daytona 500, Race, After the race
A NASCAR spokesperson said, "Things were operating in a normal fashion ... it was an extraordinary circumstance that occurred when something went awry in the No. 42 car. ", and, "Under caution, it is standard for a car to 'catch up' to the rest of the field, which is what the No. 42 car was doing." Montoya's car was examined by NASCAR officials before it returned to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's shop in Concord, North Carolina. NASCAR did not fine Keselowski for tweeting during the red flag period and was allowed to keep his iPhone in his pocket for the rest of the season.


2012 Daytona 500, Race, After the race
Later in the week, track officials conducted a thorough analysis of the track in turn three and determined the damage was worse than originally thought. A second patch job was conducted for the track's upcoming Daytona Bike Week events in March. After the Bike Week, the affected area of track was completely removed and resurfaced by Lane Construction—the same company that resurfaced the entire track prior to the 2011 Daytona 500. Repairs were completed in time for the Coke Zero 400 in July.


2012 Daytona 500, Race, After the race
From the Subway Fresh Fit 500 onward, NASCAR required that an additional pace car would be behind the last jet dryer on track in all three national series and jet dryer drivers were allowed to wear helmets and fire suits for extra protection. The jet dryer incident was described as "one of the most bizarre events" in the history of NASCAR and the Daytona 500 by various American media organizations.


2012 Daytona 500, Race, After the race
Two days after the race, Hendrick Motorsports was penalized for Johnson's car. The penalty, for "actions detrimental to stock car racing",  included a $100,000 fine and a six-race suspension for crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec and the loss of 25 owner and driver points for Jeff Gordon and Johnson. Both Knaus and Malec were placed on probation until May 9, 2012, and were suspended from NASCAR until April 18, 2012.


2012 Daytona 500, Race, After the race
Speed analyst and former driver Kyle Petty thought the penalties went too far, stating that the car was never raced and questioned why NASCAR issued the penalties. Hendrick Motorsports immediately announced it would appeal the decision; Knaus and Malec were allowed to work with the team during the appeal. The team lost the initial appeal on March 13, and made a final appeal to NASCAR National Commissioner John Middlebrook. As a result of the final appeal held on March 20, Knaus and Malec's six-race suspension was lifted and the points penalties to Johnson and Jeff Gordon were rescinded; however, the $100,000 fine administered to Knaus was upheld.


2012 Daytona 500, Race, After the race
As this was the first race of the season, Kenseth led the Drivers' Championship with 47 points, followed by Earnhardt, Biffle and Hamlin, who were all tied for second on 42 points. Burton followed in fifth on 40 points. Ford became leader in the Manufacturers' Championship with nine points. Chevrolet was in second with six points, Toyota in third place with four points, one point ahead of Dodge in fourth. The race had an average television audience of 13.69 million viewers.


2012 Daytona 500, Race, After the race
An estimated 36.5 million total viewers watched all or part of the race, which was a 22% increase from the previous year's event. It became the most viewed NASCAR race in Fox's history and was the network's highest rated Monday night since Game Five of the 2010 World Series sixteen months previously. The race garnered the highest ratings in the 18–49 demographic, and was also the second most watched Daytona 500 behind the 2006 race. The race took three hours, thirty-six minutes and two seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 0.210 seconds.


2012 Deauville American Film Festival
The 38th Deauville American Film Festival took place at Deauville, France from August 31 to September 9, 2012. Jeff Nichols's drama film Mud served as the opening night film. Savages by Oliver Stone was the closing night film of the festival. The Grand Prix was awarded to Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin.


2012 Deauville American Film Festival
Complete lineup for the festival was announced on July 25, 2012, including episodes from Television shows for the Television section at the festival. Fashion designer and filmmaker Agnès B. was given Carte blanche section to show seven of her favourite American films to the festival audience. The festival paid tribute to William Friedkin, Salma Hayek, Harvey Keitel, Liam Neeson, Melvin Van Peebles, Paula Wagner and John Williams and hosted retrospective of their films. Paul Dano received Le Nouvel Hollywood (Hollywood Rising Star) award.


2012 Deir ez-Zor bombing
The 2012 Deir ez-Zor bombing involved a car bomb blast in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor killing 9 people on 19 May 2012 during the Syrian Civil War. The blast struck a parking lot for a military intelligence complex.


2012 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team
The 2012 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team represented the University of Delaware in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 11th-year head coach K. C. Keeler and played their home games at Delaware Stadium in Newark, Delaware. They were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). They finished the season 5–6, 2–6 in CAA play to finish in eighth place. Following the season, the school fired Keeler.


2012 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team, Previous season
In 2011, Delaware came into the season ranked No. 5 in both The Sports Network Poll and The Coaches Poll. After losing the season-opener to Navy of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and beating Division II team West Chester, the Blue Hens went 3−3 against Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams over the next six games of the season. They finished the year with three straight conference wins and a final record of 7−4. With only six Division I wins, they were not invited to the FCS playoffs after the regular season. Delaware was ranked No. 17 in The Sports Network Poll and No. 20 in The Coaches Poll.


2012 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team, Personnel, Coaching staff
Delaware head coach K. C. Keeler was in his eleventh year as the Blue Hens' head coach for the 2012 season. During his previous ten years with Delaware, he led the Fightin' Blue Hens to an overall record of 81 wins and 46 losses (81–46) and the 2003 national championship.


2012 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team, Personnel, Coaching staff
Delaware promoted Andy Marino from his role as a graduate assistant to tight ends and offensive tackles coach on July 26, 2012. Marino took the place of David Boler, who left to become the wide receivers coach for Rhode Island. Kirk Ciarrocca was rehired as running backs coach after being an assistant coach for Rutgers and Richmond for four seasons. He was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Delaware from 2002 to 2007.


2012 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team, Personnel, Transfers
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Trent Hurley transferred from Bowling Green and redshirt freshman guard Sam Collura transferred to Delaware from Pittsburgh. Three former Maryland players transferred to Delaware: junior defensive tackle Zach Kerr, junior linebacker David Mackall, and redshirt sophomore defensive back Mario Rowson. Redshirt sophomore defensive end Andrew Opoku from Connecticut transferred to Delaware. Redshirt junior tight end Malcolm Bush transferred from Rutgers in August.


2012 Delaware House of Representatives election
An election was held on November 6, 2012 to elect all 41 members to Delaware's House of Representatives. The election coincided with the elections for other offices, including U.S. President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, state governor and state senate. The primary election was held on September 11, 2012.


2012 Delaware House of Representatives election
Democrats consolidated their control of the House by gaining one seat, winning 27 seats compared to 14 seats for the Republicans.


2012 Delaware House of Representatives election, Results, District
Results of the 2012 Delaware House of Representatives election by district:


2012 Delaware State Hornets baseball team
The 2012 Delaware State Hornets baseball team  represented Delaware State University in the sport of baseball during the 2012 college baseball season. The Hornets competed in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Northern Division of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). They played their home games on the university's Dover, Delaware campus. The team was coached by J. P. Blandin, who was in his twelfth season at Delaware State. The Hornets were looking to build upon their 26-29 record from the 2011 season.


2012 Delaware State Hornets baseball team
The Hornets finished the regular season at 35-15 with a conference record of 22-2. The Hornets would lose in the second round to Maryland Eastern Shore, but they would then go onto the finals of the MEAC Tournament to face Bethune–Cookman. The Hornets beat the Wildcats in the first game 3-2, but were stopped 8-3 in the second game, thus ending their season.


2012 Delaware State Hornets football team
The 2012 Delaware State Hornets football team represented Delaware State University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Kermit Blount and played their home games at Alumni Stadium. They are a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). They finished the season 6–5, 5–3 in MEAC play to finish in a three way tie for third place.


2012 Delaware elections
Delaware's 2012 general elections were held on November 6, 2012. Primary elections were held on September 11, 2012.


2012 Delaware elections, Federal, Senate
Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tom Carper, who has held the position since 2001, is running for re-election. Keith Spanarelli, a businessman, is challenging Carper in the Democratic primary.


2012 Delaware elections, Federal, Senate
Andrew Groff, a businessman, is running as the nominee of the Green Party. Groff has also been endorsed by the Libertarian Party. Alex Pires, a businessman and attorney, is running as the nominee of the Independent Party of Delaware.


2012 Delaware elections, Federal, House of Representatives
Incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative John Carney, who has held the position since 2011, is running for re-election.


2012 Delaware elections, Federal, House of Representatives
Rose Izzo, a housewife and unsuccessful Republican primary candidate for the seat in 2010, and Tom Kovach, the president of the New Castle County Council, are seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Carney.


2012 Delaware elections, Federal, House of Representatives
Bernie August is running as the nominee of the Green Party. Scott Gesty, an accountant, is running as the nominee of the Libertarian Party. Gesty has also been endorsed by the Independent Party of Delaware.


2012 Delaware elections, State, Constitutional officers, Governor
Incumbent Democratic Governor Jack Markell, who has held the position since 2009, is running for re-election.


2012 Delaware elections, State, Constitutional officers, Governor
Jeff Cragg, a businessman, is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Markell.


2012 Delaware elections, State, Constitutional officers, Lieutenant Governor
Democratic incumbent Matt Denn, who has held the position of Lieutenant Governor of Delaware since 2009, is running for re-election.


2012 Delaware elections, State, Constitutional officers, Lieutenant Governor
Sher Valenzuela, a businesswoman, is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Denn.


2012 Delaware elections, State, Constitutional officers, Lieutenant Governor
Margie Waite-McKeown is running as the nominee of the Libertarian Party.


2012 Delaware elections, State, Constitutional officers, Insurance Commissioner
Democratic incumbent Karen Weldin Stewart, who has held the position of Insurance Commissioner of Delaware since 2009, is running for re-election. Mitch Crane, a lawyer, former judge, and former acting director of the Consumer Services and Investigations under Stewart; Paul Gallagher, an insurance agent; and Dennis Spivack, a former Deputy state Attorney General and Democratic nominee for the At-large congressional seat in 2006, are challenging Stewart in the Democratic primary. Crane has received the endorsement of the Delaware Democratic Party.


2012 Delaware elections, State, Constitutional officers, Insurance Commissioner
David Eisenhour is running as the nominee of the Libertarian Party.


2012 Delaware elections, State, General Assembly, Senate
Because of redistricting, all 21 members of the Delaware Senate are up for election. The state Senate currently consists of 14 Democrats and 7 Republicans.


2012 Delaware elections, State, General Assembly, Senate
District 6: Republican incumbent and Minority Whip Liane Sorenson is retiring.


2012 Delaware elections, State, General Assembly, House of Representatives
All 41 members of the Delaware House of Representatives are up for election. The state House currently consists of 26 Democrats and 15 Republicans.


2012 Delaware elections, State, General Assembly, House of Representatives
District 1: Democratic incumbent Dennis P. Williams is running for mayor of Wilmington.


2012 Delaware elections, State, General Assembly, House of Representatives
District 11: Republican incumbent and Minority Leader Greg Lavelle is running for the 4th district state Senate seat.


2012 Delaware elections, State, General Assembly, House of Representatives
District 19: Democratic incumbent and Speaker of the House Robert Gilligan is retiring.


2012 Delaware elections, State, General Assembly, House of Representatives
District 20: This is a new seat, with no current incumbent.


2012 Delaware elections, State, General Assembly, House of Representatives
District 32: Democratic incumbent E. Bradford "Brad" Bennett is retiring.


2012 Delaware elections, State, General Assembly, House of Representatives
District 38: Republican incumbent Gerald Hocker is running for the 20th district state Senate seat.


2012 Delaware gubernatorial election
The 2012 Delaware gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2012, to elect the Governor of Delaware. Incumbent Democratic Governor Jack Markell won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican challenger Jeff Cragg in a landslide by a margin of over 40 points.


2012 Delaware gubernatorial election, General election
Democrat and Republican candidates were unopposed in their party primaries, which were held on September 11. The Green Party candidate was endorsed by the Green Party of Delaware at their annual meeting on May 11.


2012 Delaware lieutenant gubernatorial election
The 2012 Delaware lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2012, coinciding with the Delaware gubernatorial election. Democratic incumbent Lieutenant Governor Matthew Denn was elected to a second term, defeating Republican nominee Sher Valenzuela in a landslide.


2012 Delhi Municipal Corporation election
The 2012 Delhi municipal corporation election was held on 15 April 2012 and the result was declared on 17 April 2012.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder
The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi. The incident took place when  Jyoti Singh, a 22-year-old female physiotherapy intern, was beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was travelling with her male friend. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. Eleven days after the assault she was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment but died two days later.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder
The incident generated widespread national and international coverage and was widely condemned, both in India and abroad. Subsequently, public protests against the state and central governments for failing to provide adequate security for women took place in New Delhi, where thousands of protesters clashed with security forces. Similar protests took place in major cities throughout the country. Since Indian law does not allow the press to publish a rape victim's name, the victim was widely known as Nirbhaya, meaning "fearless", and her struggle and death became a symbol of women's resistance to rape around the world.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder
All the accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused, Ram Singh, died in police custody from possible suicide on 11 March 2013. According to some published reports, the police say Ram Singh hanged himself, but defence lawyers and his family allege he was murdered. The rest of the accused went on trial in a fast-track court; the prosecution finished presenting its evidence on 8 July 2013. The juvenile was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment in a reform facility, as per the Juvenile Justice Act.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder
On 10 September 2013, the four remaining adult defendants - Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Mukesh Singh (Ram Singh's brother) - were found guilty of rape and murder and three days later were sentenced to death. In the death reference case and hearing appeals on 13 March 2014, Delhi High Court upheld the guilty verdict and the death sentences. On 18 December 2019, the Supreme Court of India rejected the final appeals of the condemned perpetrators of the attack. The four adult convicts were executed on 20 March 2020.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder
As a result of the protests, in December 2012, a judicial committee was set up to study and take public suggestions for the best ways to amend laws to provide quicker investigation and prosecution of sex offenders. After considering about 80,000 suggestions, the committee submitted a report which indicated that failures on the part of the government and police were the root cause behind crimes against women. In 2013, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 was promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee, several new laws were passed, and six new fast-track courts were created to hear rape cases.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder
Critics argue that the legal system remains slow to hear and prosecute rape cases, but most agree that the case has resulted in a tremendous increase in the public discussion of crimes against women and statistics show that there has been an increase in the number of women willing to file a crime report. However, in December 2014, two years after the attack, the victim's father called the promises of reform unmet and said that he felt regret in that he had not been able to bring justice for his daughter and other women like her.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder
A BBC documentary titled India's Daughter based on the attack was broadcast in the UK on 4 March 2015. Indian-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta's 2016 film Anatomy of Violence was also based on the incident, exploring the social conditions and values in Indian society that made it possible. The Netflix original 2019 TV series Delhi Crime is based on the Delhi Police's search for the culprits of this case.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Incident
The victims, a 22-year-old woman,  Jyoti Singh and her male friend, were returning home on the night of 16 December 2012 after watching the film Life of Pi in Saket, South Delhi. They boarded the bus at Munirka for Dwarka at about 9:30 pm (IST). There were only six others in the bus, including the driver. One of the men, identified as minor, had called for passengers telling them that the bus was going towards their destination. Her friend became suspicious when the bus deviated from its normal route and its doors were shut. When he objected, the group of six men already on board, including the driver, taunted the couple, asking what they were doing alone at such a late hour.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Incident
During the argument, a scuffle ensued between her friend and the group of men. He was beaten, gagged and knocked unconscious with an iron rod. The men then dragged Jyoti to the rear of the bus, beating her with the rod and raping her while the bus driver continued to drive. A medical report later said that she suffered serious injuries to her abdomen, intestines and genitals due to the assault, and doctors said that the damage indicated that a blunt object (suspected to be the iron rod) may have been used for penetration. That rod was later described by police as being a rusted, L-shaped implement of the type used as a wheel jack handle.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Incident
According to police reports Jyoti attempted to fight off her assailants, biting three of the attackers and leaving bite marks on the accused men. After the beatings and rape ended, the attackers threw both victims from the moving bus. One of the perpetrators later cleaned the vehicle to remove evidence. Police impounded it the next day.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Incident
The partially clothed victims were found on the road by a passerby at around 11 pm. The passerby called the Delhi Police who took the couple to Safdarjung Hospital, where Jyoti was given emergency treatment and placed on mechanical ventilation. She was found with injury marks, including numerous bite marks, all over her body. According to reports, one of the accused men admitted to having seen a rope-like object, assumed to be her intestines, being pulled out of the woman by the other assailants on the bus. Two blood-stained metal rods were retrieved from the bus and medical staff confirmed that "it was penetration by this that caused massive damage to her genitals, uterus and intestines".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Victims
Jyoti Singh, the eldest of three children and only daughter of her family, was born in Delhi on 10 May 1990, while her parents were from a small village in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. Her father sold his ancestral land to educate her, and worked double shifts to continue to pay for her schooling. In an interview, he related that as a youth he had dreamed of becoming a school teacher, but at that time education was not considered important and girls were not even sent to school.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Victims
"Attitudes are changing back home now, but when I left 30 years ago, I vowed to never deny my children of education, so sending them to school was fulfilling my desire for knowledge." He said : "It never entered our hearts to ever discriminate. How could I be happy if my son is happy and my daughter isn't? And it was impossible to refuse a little girl who loved going to school."


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Victims
In compliance with Indian law, the real name of the victim was initially not released to the media, so pseudonyms were used for her by various media houses instead, including Jagruti ("awareness"), Jyoti ("flame"), Amanat ("treasure"), Nirbhaya ("fearless one"), Damini ("lightning", after the 1993 Hindi film) and Delhi braveheart.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Victims
The male victim Awindra Pratap Pandey was a software engineer from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, who lives in Ber Sarai, New Delhi; he suffered broken limbs but survived.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Victims
Delhi police registered a criminal case against the editor of a Delhi-based tabloid, Mail Today, for disclosing the female victim's identity, as such disclosure is an offence under section 228(A) of Indian Penal Code. Shashi Tharoor, then a union minister, suggested that if the parents had no objection, her identity could be made public, with a view to showing respect for her courageous response by naming future laws after her. Speaking to a British press reporter on 5 January, the victim's father was quoted as saying, "We want the world to know her real name.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Victims
My daughter didn't do anything wrong, she died while protecting herself. I am proud of her. Revealing her name will give courage to other women who have survived these attacks. They will find strength from my daughter." Indian law forbids revealing the name of a rape victim unless the family agrees to it and, following the news article which published the father's reported quote and the victim's name, some news outlets in India, Germany, Australia, and the United States also revealed her name.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Victims
However, the following day Zee News quoted the father as saying, "I have only said we won't have any objection if the government uses my daughter's name for a new law for crime against women that is more stringent and better framed than the existing one." During a protest against the juvenile convict's release on 16 December 2015, the victim's mother said that the victim's name was Jyoti Singh and she was not ashamed of disclosing her name.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Medical treatment and death
On 19 December 2012, Singh underwent her fifth surgery which removed most of her remaining intestine. Doctors reported that she was in "stable but critical" condition. On 21 December, the government appointed a committee of doctors to ensure she received the best medical care. By 25 December, she remained intubated, on life support and in critical condition. Doctors stated that she had a fever of 102 to 103 °F (39 °C) and that internal bleeding due to sepsis was somewhat controlled. It was reported that she was "stable, conscious and meaningfully communicative".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Medical treatment and death
At a cabinet meeting chaired by Manmohan Singh on 26 December, the decision was taken to fly her to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore for further care. Mount Elizabeth is a multi-organ transplant speciality hospital. Some doctors criticised the decision as political, questioning the need to transfer an intensive care unit (ICU) patient for organ transplants that were not scheduled for weeks or even months later. Government sources indicate that the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, was personally behind the decision. Hours earlier, Union Minister P. Chidambaram had stated that Jyoti was not in a condition to be moved. An anonymous source quoted by The Sunday Guardian stated that the decision to move her was taken "when it was already clear that she would not survive the next 48 hours".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Medical treatment and death
During the six-hour flight by air-ambulance to Singapore on 27 December, Jyoti suddenly went into a "near collapse", which a later report described as a cardiac arrest. The doctors on the flight created an arterial line to stabilise her, but she had been without pulse and blood pressure for nearly three minutes and never regained consciousness in Singapore.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Medical treatment and death
On 28 December, at 11 am (IST), Jyoti's condition was extremely critical. The chief executive officer of the Mount Elizabeth Hospital said that the victim suffered brain damage, pneumonia, and abdominal infection, and that she was "fighting for her life." Her condition continued to deteriorate, and she died at 4:45 am on 29 December, Singapore Standard Time (2:15 am, 29 December, IST; 8:45 pm, 28 December, UTC). Her body was cremated on 30 December in Delhi under high police security.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Medical treatment and death
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the country's main opposition party at that time criticised the high security levels, stating that they were reminiscent of the Emergency era, during which civil liberties were suspended. One of Jyoti's brothers commented that the decision to fly her out to Singapore came too late, and they had pinned high hopes for her recovery prior to her death.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Arrests
Police had found and arrested some suspects within 24 hours of the crime. From recordings made by a highway CCTV vehicle, a description of the bus, a white charter bus with a name written on it, was broadcast. Other operators identified it as being contracted by a South Delhi private school. They then traced it and found its driver, Ram Singh. Police obtained sketches of the assailants with the help of the male victim, and used a mobile phone stolen from the two victims to find one of the assailants.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Arrests
Six men were arrested in connection with the incident. They included 30-year-old Ram Singh, the bus driver, and his 26-year-old brother, Mukesh Singh, who were both arrested in Rajasthan. Ram and Mukesh Singh lived in Ravidas camp, a slum in South Delhi. 20-year-old Vinay Sharma, an assistant gym instructor, and 19-year-old Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller, were both arrested in UP and Bihar. A 17-year-old juvenile named Mohammed Afroz, from Badayun, Uttar Pradesh, was arrested at the Anand Vihar terminal in Delhi. The juvenile had only met the others that day. 28-year-old Akshay Thakur, who had come to Delhi seeking employment, was the final suspect to be arrested in Aurangabad, Bihar, and he was married with one son at the time of his arrest.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Arrests
According to reports, the group had been eating and drinking together and "having a party" earlier in the day. Although the charter bus which Ram Singh drove on weekdays was not permitted to pick up public passengers or even to operate in Delhi because of its tinted windows, they decided to take it out "to have some fun". A few hours before committing the gang rape, the attackers had robbed a carpenter. The carpenter was 35-year-old Ramadhir Singh, who boarded the bus that was being driven by Mukesh Singh.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Arrests
The juvenile convict had lured him into the bus saying it was going to Nehru Place. He was then beaten up and robbed of his mobile phone and ₹1500 in cash. After robbing him, the group dumped him at the IIT Flyover. He reported about the group in the bus robbing him to three police constables: Kailash, Ashok and Sandeep, who were passing nearby. They refused to take any action in response, saying that the crime scene wasn't under their purview as they were from the Hauz Khas police station, and that he would have to report the incident to the station in Vasant Vihar.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Arrests
Shortly after the attacks, Pawan Gupta said he accepted his guilt and should be hanged. Mukesh Singh, who was placed in Tihar Jail after his arrest, was assaulted by other inmates and was kept in solitary confinement for his own protection.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Arrests
Ram Singh was presented before the Metropolitan Magistrate on 18 December 2012. He refused to participate in an identification process. Investigation revealed a history of frequent drinking that resulted in "blinding rage", "bad temper", and quarrels with employers, that had led friends to call him "mental". On 11 March, Ram Singh was discovered hanging from a ventilator shaft in his cell which he shared with 3 other prisoners, at about 5:45 a.m. Authorities said it was unclear whether it was a suicide or a murder.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial
The male victim, Awindra Pratap Pandey, testified in court on 19 December 2012. Pandey recorded his statement with a sub-divisional magistrate at the Safdarjung Hospital on 21 December, in the presence of the Deputy Commissioner of police. He was reportedly plagued with guilt and trauma over the incident.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial
On 21 December, the government promised to file the charge sheet quickly and seek the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for the perpetrators. Following public outrage and a demand for a speedy trial and prosecution, on 24 December, the police promised to file the charge sheet within one week. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs met on 27 December to discuss the issue, and Union Home Secretary R. K. Singh and Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar were summoned to appear. The Delhi High Court approved the creation of five fast-track courts to try rape and sexual assault cases. The first of the five approved fast-track courts was inaugurated on 2 January 2013 by Altamas Kabir, Chief Justice of India, in Saket court complex in South Delhi.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial
On 21 December, the Delhi High Court reprimanded the Delhi police for being "evasive" in a probe status report providing details of officers on patrol duty in the area covered by the bus route. A further court hearing on the matter was scheduled for 9 January 2013. The following day, the Delhi Police initiated action against three Hauz Khas police station personnel for their inaction in responding to the robbery of the carpenter that took place earlier on the bus in the day. On 24 December, two Assistant Commissioners of Police were suspended for failing to prevent the gang rape incident.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Juvenile defendant
The juvenile defendant Mohammed Afroz, whose name was later changed to Raju in the media due to his age, was declared as 17 years and six months old on the day of the crime by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), which relied on his birth certificate and school documents. The JJB rejected a police request for a bone ossification (age determination) test for a positive documentation of his age.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Juvenile defendant
On 28 January 2013, the JJB determined that Afroz would not be tried as an adult. A petition moved by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy seeking the prosecution of the minor as an adult because of the violent nature of his alleged crime was rejected by the JJB. The minor was tried separately in a juvenile court.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Juvenile defendant
A verdict in the case was scheduled to be announced on 25 July, but was deferred until 5 August and then deferred again to 19 August. On 31 August, he was convicted of rape and murder under the Juvenile Justice Act and given the maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment in a reform facility, inclusive of the eight months he spent in remand during the trial. Reportedly, Jyoti's younger brother had impulsively tried to attack the juvenile convict after hearing the verdict but the crowd in the courtroom managed to restrain him. The juvenile was released on 20 December 2015.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Juvenile defendant
For the rehabilitation and mainstreaming of Afroz as mandated by the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 management committees are set up before the release of juvenile convicts. Accordingly a 'post-release plan' was submitted to the Delhi high court in December 2015. The plan, was prepared and submitted by the management committee, headed by the officer of the District Child Protection Unit, and had recommended that "(Afroz) should lead a new life with a new identity provided by the appropriate government as applicable in his case if permissible to avoid any backlash or violent reaction".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Juvenile defendant
According to the report, the juvenile had learnt cooking and tailoring while staying in the reform house. Report further said that Afroz would need a tailoring shop, a sewing machine and other tailoring equipment. The report also mentioned that a one time grant of ₹10,000 (US$140) from the government should be sufficient to support him initially. The department of women and child development (WCD) of the government, stated that it would provide the money and would arrange the machine from an NGO. Afroz's family had ostracized him for the crime and refused to accept him. However, after his release it was reported that he was working as a cook.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Adult defendants
Five days after Jyoti's death, on 3 January 2013, the police filed charges against the five adult men for rape, murder, kidnapping, destruction of evidence, and the attempted murder of the woman's male companion. Senior lawyer Dayan Krishnan was appointed as the special public prosecutor. Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta denied the charges. Some of the men had confessed earlier; however, their lawyers said that their clients had been tortured and that their confessions had been coerced.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Adult defendants
On 10 January, one of their lawyers, Manohar Lal Sharma, said in a media interview that the victims were responsible for the assault because they should not have been using public transportation and, as an unmarried couple, they should not have been on the streets at night. He went on to say: "Until today I have not seen a single incident or example of rape with a respected lady. Even an underworld don would not like to touch a girl without respect." He also called the male victim "wholly responsible" for the incident because he "failed in his duty to protect the woman".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Adult defendants
The Delhi police filed a charge sheet against the defendants on 13 March in the robbery of Ram Adhar.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Adult defendants
The four surviving adult defendants went on trial in a fast-track court. The prosecution presented evidence including witness statements, the victim's statement, fingerprints, DNA testing, and dental modelling. It completed its case on 8 July.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Conviction and sentencing
On 10 September 2013, in the fast track court of Delhi, the four adult defendants were found guilty of rape, murder, unnatural offences and destruction of evidence. The four men faced the death penalty, and demonstrators outside the courthouse called for the hanging of the defendants. The victim's father also called for the defendants to be hanged, stating, "We will get complete closure only if all the accused are wiped off from the face of the earth." Lawyers for three of the four stated that their clients intended to appeal the verdict.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Conviction and sentencing
The four men were sentenced on 13 September to death by hanging. Judge Yogesh Khanna rejected pleas for a lesser sentence saying the case has "shocked the collective conscience of India" and that "courts cannot turn a blind eye to such crimes." The victim's family was present for the sentencing and her mother expressed satisfaction over the verdict saying, "We were waiting with bated breath, now we are relieved. I thank the people of my country and the media." After the verdict was delivered, the people waiting outside the courtroom applauded.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Trial, Conviction and sentencing
On 13 March 2014, the Delhi High Court found each of the defendants guilty of rape, murder, unnatural offences and destruction of evidence. With the verdict; the High Court confirmed the death sentences for the four men convicted in September 2013. The court noted that the crime, which stirred widespread protests over sexual crimes against women in the country, fell into the judicial system's "rarest of the rare category" that allows capital punishment. The lawyers of the four men said they would appeal to the Supreme Court.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Supreme Court appeal
On 15 March 2014, the Supreme Court of India stayed the execution of two of the four convicts, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta, to allow them to make their appeal against their conviction on 31 March. This was further extended by the court to the second week of July. On 2 June, the two other convicts, Sharma and Thakur, also asked the Supreme Court to stay their execution to allow them to make an appeal of their convictions. On 14 July, their execution was also stayed by Supreme Court. On 27 August 2015, Vinay, Akshay, Mukesh and Pawan were convicted of robbing Ram Adhar and were later sentenced to 10-years imprisonment.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Supreme Court appeal
On 5 May 2017, the Supreme Court rejected the convicts' appeal and saying they had committed "a barbaric crime" that had "shaken society's conscience," the court upheld the death sentence of the four who had been charged in the murder. The verdict was well received by the family of the victim and the civil society. According to legal experts, the convicts still had the right to file a review petition to the Supreme Court. On 9 July 2018, the Supreme Court rejected a review petition by three of the convicts.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Supreme Court appeal
In November 2019, the Supreme Court dismissed a review petition from Akshay pleading for mercy. In doing so, the court retained the death sentence. After the verdict, Akshay's lawyer told the Supreme Court that he would appeal to the president. For this, he should be given three weeks time. In January 2020, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court rejected the curative petitions of convicts, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Supreme Court appeal
On 7 January 2020 a death warrant was issued for the Nirbhaya rapists by a Delhi court, setting an execution date of 22 January 2020 at 7:00 a.m. IST in Tihar Jail.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Supreme Court appeal
Government authorities and the victim's mother alleged that the four convicts were "intentionally delaying" and "frustrating" the legal process in this case by filing their pleas in stages, so that the execution could be postponed. Under the prison rules, if a case has more than one convicts awaiting death penalty and one of them moves a mercy plea then the execution of all the convicts would need to be postponed until a decision is made on the pending mercy plea.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Supreme Court appeal, Mercy plea to the President of India
Convict Mukesh filed a mercy plea. The Delhi government made a recommendation to reject the plea and forwarded it to the Lieutenant Governor. Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia stated that this action was taken at "lightning speed."


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Supreme Court appeal, Mercy plea to the President of India
On 17 January 2020, the President of India rejected the mercy plea of the convict Mukesh Singh. The home ministry had recommended the president that the plea should be rejected.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Supreme Court appeal, Second, third and fourth death warrants
On 17 January 2020, hours after the rejection of the mercy plea, Judge Dharmender Rana issued a second death warrant for the convicts to be hanged after a mandatory fourteen-day gap on 1 February at 6 a.m. The fourteen days' reprieve was provided in accordance with law which states that the convicts awaiting an execution must have a reprieve after their mercy plea is rejected. During the same hearing, the court also rejected a plea by the convict Mukesh to postpone the execution.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Supreme Court appeal, Second, third and fourth death warrants
On 17 January, convict Pawan appealed to the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order that rejected his claim that Pawan was a juvenile during the crime in 2012. On 31 January, a Delhi court stayed the death warrant. The judge did not issue a fresh warrant for their execution. The lawyer cited Rule 836 of the prison manual which says that in a case where more than one person has been sentenced to death, the execution cannot take place unless all the convicts have exhausted their legal options.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Supreme Court appeal, Second, third and fourth death warrants
On 17 February 2020, a third death warrant was issued by the court with the execution date as 3 March 2020 at 6:00 a.m. On 4 March 2020, a fourth death warrant was issued by court with the execution date as 20 March 2020 at 5:30 a.m. Numerous pleas and appeals were made by both the families of the convicts and the convicts themselves, including three of the convicts moving the International Court of Justice for a stay on the death sentence; however, the date for the execution remained the same.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Execution of convicts
On 20 March 2020, at 5:30 a.m. IST,  Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta were executed at Tihar Jail. They were hanged on a gallows specially designed for four people. According to prison officials, the four convicts refused the offers of a last meal and new clothes prior to the execution. They were blindfolded and did not resist as they were led to the gallows; however, Vinay Sharma suffered a breakdown prior to his execution and began pleading with the guards. The four convicts were pronounced dead after hanging for 30 minutes. Mukesh Singh reportedly requested to donate his organs.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the incident
Public protests took place in New Delhi on 21 December 2012 at India Gate and Raisina Hill, the latter being the location of both the Parliament of India and Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India. Thousands of protesters clashed with police and battled Rapid Action Force units. Demonstrators were baton charged, shot with water cannon and tear gas shells, and arrested.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the incident
Similar protests occurred throughout the country. More than 600 women belonging to various organisations demonstrated in Bangalore. Thousands of people silently marched in Kolkata. Protests occurred online as well on the social networking sites Facebook and WhatsApp, with users replacing their profile images with a black dot symbol. Tens of thousands signed an online petition protesting the incident.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the incident
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and former Army chief General Vijay Kumar Singh were among the demonstrators who clashed with Delhi Police at Jantar Mantar. On 24 December, activist Rajesh Gangwar started a hunger strike, saying about the accused men, "If my death shakes the system and gets them hanged, I am ready to die". Gangwar ended his fast after 14 days, saying, "My fight to demand a strict law against rape will be continued in the future... I have dedicated myself for this cause". Middle Finger Protests, a Chandigarh-based pressure group and NGO headed by human rights and social activist Prabhloch Singh, also played a key role in the agitations and protests in New Delhi.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the incident
Seven metro rail stations in New Delhi were closed on 22 December to discourage protesters from gathering at Raisina Hill. On 24 December, police blocked roads leading to India Gate and Raisina Hill to prevent possible mass protests, and closed nine metro stations, affecting thousands of transit patrons. News reporters were not allowed to reach India Gate and Raisina Hill. In addition to CrPC section 144, which disallows assembly of groups larger than five, curfew was imposed near the presidential residence.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the incident
The Hindustan Times accused police of using excessive force against the protestors, reporting that 375 tear gas canisters were used at India Gate and elsewhere in Delhi to disperse the crowds. An article in First Post criticised the Indian government as well, saying that they failed to act positively or give credible assurances to the protesters and instead used police force, lathi-charging, pushing the media out of the scene, and shutting down metro rail stations.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the incident
Police stated that peaceful protests had been "hijacked" by hooligans and political activists.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the incident
During one protest, a police constable named Subhash Tomar collapsed and later died in hospital. Two witnesses claimed that Tomar collapsed without being hit by any protesters, while a third disputed this. Hospital doctors and the post-mortem gave contradictory reports: he died due to cardiac arrest, but it is not known if the heart attack was caused by blunt-force injuries that he suffered to his chest and neck. Some experts state that his chest injuries may have been a side effect of the administration of CPR.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the incident
The Delhi Police arrested 8 young men and charged them with Tomar's murder and rioting at India Gate. Later in March 2013, the police admitted in the High Court they had no evidence against the eight and gave them a clean chit. The youths said the move by the commissioner of police to charge them with murder had been "irresponsible".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the victim's death
After Jyoti Singh's death on 29 December 2012, protests were staged throughout India, including Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar and Visakhapatnam. Many of the mourners carried candles and wore black dress; some pasted black cloth across their mouths.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the victim's death
The following day a large number of people staged protests near Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. There were minor clashes between some groups of protesters and the police; the police then removed some protesters from the area. One group of protesters also observed a one-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar. All roads leading to India Gate were closed by police and areas where protesters had gathered during the previous week were out of bounds to the public. Some of the protesters drew graffiti and slogans on papers spread on the road, condemning the incident and demanding stricter laws and speedy judgement. The BJP renewed its demand for a special parliament session to discuss the case and to adopt stricter laws on crime against women.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the victim's death
New Year's celebrations were scaled down to a large extent, with the Indian armed forces and some clubs and hotels in Delhi cancelling their New Year parties.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the victim's death
The Indian protests also sparked protests across South Asia, including marches and rallies in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Nepal, hundreds of demonstrators in Kathmandu called for legal reforms and an overhaul of attitudes to women. In Bangladesh the human rights group Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) said the protests in Delhi had given fresh impetus to protests against sexual violence. According to an ASK spokesperson, "although previous demonstrations on similar issues were largely dominated by women, men were now protesting too. The protests had also drawn people from a broad range of society."


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the victim's death
In Paris, people participated in a march to the Indian embassy where a petition was handed over asking for action to make India safer for women.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the victim's death
An author for the South Asia Analysis Group explained the protests as expressions of middle-class angst arising out of a collapse of a social contract between them and the liberal state. New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities. Police figures show a rape reported on average every 18 hours; reported rape cases rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011. Only one of the 706 rape cases filed in Delhi in 2012 saw a successful conviction against the attacker.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Public protests, After the victim's death
Between 16 December and 4 January 501 calls for harassment and 64 calls for rape were recorded by the Delhi Police, but only four were followed up by inquiries. The regional programme director for U.N. Women South Asia said, "There are rape cases in almost all cities and rural areas, where the victim dies immediately because of the brutality of the crime ... This time, it was like, 'Wake up.'"


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions
Members of the Indian parliament demanded severe punishment for the perpetrators. The then Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, stated: "The rapists should be hanged". Chairperson of the then ruling United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi visited the Safdarjang Hospital and met doctors on duty in the anaesthesia and surgery departments for an update on the woman's health. Bahujan Samaj Party chief, Mayawati, said that proper investigation was required, and that "action should be so strict that no one should dare to act in such a manner again".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions
Actress and member of the Rajya Sabha, Jaya Bachchan said that she was "terribly disturbed" over the incident, and felt "ashamed" sitting in the House, feeling "helpless" for "not being able to do anything". Meira Kumar, the then Speaker of the Lok Sabha, told reporters a "new law should be brought in and must get passed to ensure the safety of women." She went on to say: "The laws at present are not enough, we need stricter laws."


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions
Sheila Dixit, who at that time was the Chief Minister of Delhi, said that she did not have the courage to meet the victim and described Delhi as a "rape capital" in interviews. She said that senior police officials should be held accountable for the failure to take adequate measures to stop such incidents and called for "immediate setting up of fast-track courts to try rape cases and to get justice in a time-bound manner". The three constables who had refused to take action upon Ram Adhar's complaint of robbery were suspended for dereliction of duty.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions
On 24 December 2012, in his first official reaction after the incident, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for calm, stressing that "violence will serve no purpose". In a televised address, he assured that all possible efforts would be made to ensure the safety of women in India. Singh expressed empathy, saying: "As a father of three daughters I feel as strongly about the incident as each one of you". As a tribute to Nirbhaya, the prime minister cancelled all his official events to celebrate the new year. Then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, announced a package of financial assistance ₹2 million (US$28,000) and a government job to her family.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions
Speaking out against the protesters, President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit Mukherjee argued that the women protesters did not appear to him to be students, saying, "What's basically happening in Delhi is a lot like Egypt or elsewhere, where there's something called the Pink Revolution, which has very little connection with ground realities. In India, staging candle-lit marches, going to discothèques ... I can see many beautiful women among them – highly dented-painted ... [ but] I have grave doubts whether they're students ..." The remark was widely condemned as sexist.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions
His sister Sharmistha said that she and their father the president both disapproved. Then Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan also expressed disapproval. Abhijit quickly withdrew his comment and apologised. Spiritual guru Asaram Bapu also provoked extensive criticism from the public by saying that the victim was also to blame for her own assault because she could have stopped the attack if she had "chanted God's name and fallen at the feet of the attackers".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions, International
The American embassy released a statement on 29 December 2012, offering their condolences to Nirbhaya's family and stated "we also recommit ourselves to changing attitudes and ending all forms of gender-based violence, which plagues every country in the world". Nirbhaya was posthumously awarded one of the 2013 International Women of Courage Awards of the US State Department. The citation stated that "for millions of Indian women, her personal ordeal, perseverance to fight for justice, and her family's continued bravery is helping to lift the stigma and vulnerability that drive violence against women."


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions, International
The crime of rape became a capital offence in India following the rape. Indian politician Mulayam Singh Yadav opposed this change in the law, saying that "Boys will be boys. Boys commit mistakes". Two years later, in response to these comments and another incident of rape that took place in Uttar Pradesh where Yadav's party was governing, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said "We say no to the dismissive, destructive attitude of, 'Boys will be boys'". and stated, "Violence against women must never be accepted, never excused, never tolerated.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions, International
Every girl and woman has the right to be respected, valued and protected". UN Women called on the Government of India and the Government of Delhi "to do everything in their power to take up radical reforms, ensure justice and reach out with robust public services to make women's lives more safe and secure".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions, International
In the wake of remarks against India in Western media, Jessica Valenti, writing in The Nation, argued that such rapes are also common in the United States, but US commentators exhibit a double standard in denying or minimising their systemic nature while simultaneously attacking India for an alleged rape culture. Author and activist Eve Ensler, who organised One Billion Rising, a global campaign to end violence against women and girls, said that the gang rape and murder was a turning point in India and around the world. Ensler said that she had travelled to India at the time of the rape and murder and she commented:


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions, International
After having worked every day of my life for the last 15 years on sexual violence, I have never seen anything like that, where sexual violence broke through the consciousness and was on the front page, nine articles in every paper every day, in the centre of every discourse, in the centre of the college students' discussions, in the centre of any restaurant you went in. And I think what's happened in India, India is really leading the way for the world. It's really broken through. They are actually fast-tracking laws. They are looking at sexual education. They are looking at the bases of patriarchy and masculinity and how all that leads to sexual violence.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions, Tourism
In the aftermath of the rape case the number of female tourists fell by 35% compared to the period the previous year according to an industry survey by ASSOCHAM. The Foreign Office of the UK modified its travel advice and advised women against travelling alone.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Reactions, Tourism
In 2014, Finance minister Arun Jaitley commented that "'one small incident of rape in Delhi' advertised world-over is enough to cost us billions of dollars in terms of lower tourism".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Results of protests
In the view of widespread protests, governments at the centre and various states announced several steps to ensure the safety of women. The Government of Karnataka announced the launch of a 24/7 dedicated helpline (1091) to be operated by the state police to register sexual abuse complaints from women. It also is checking the possibility of setting up fast-track courts to dispose of pending cases pertaining to crimes against women.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Results of protests
The Government of Tamil Nadu also announced a 13-point action plan to ensure safety of women in Tamil Nadu and said that incidents of sexual assault would be treated as a grave crime, and probes would be entrusted to top police officials. The chief minister also said that daily hearings would be conducted in all sexual abuse cases in the state for speedy trials at specially constituted fast-track courts, and women prosecutors would be appointed as government counsels. The Jammu and Kashmir government also announced plans to change the state's laws against sexual offences and gender crimes. The Government of Himachal Pradesh decided to set up state and district-level committees to review progress of all cases of crimes against women.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Results of protests, Justice Verma Committee and changes in law
On 22 December 2012, a judicial committee headed by J. S. Verma, a former Chief Justice of India and one of India's most highly regarded Chief Justices and eminent jurists, was appointed by the Central government to submit a report within 30 days to suggest amendments to criminal law to sternly deal with sexual assault cases.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Results of protests, Justice Verma Committee and changes in law
The committee urged the public in general and particularly eminent jurists, legal professionals, NGOs, women's groups and civil society to share "their views, knowledge and experience suggesting possible amendments in the criminal and other relevant laws to provide for quicker investigation, prosecution and trial, and also enhanced punishment for criminals accused of committing sexual assault of an extreme nature against women." The Committee held its first meeting on 26 December 2012; it had received more than 6,000 emails with suggestions by then. The Justice Verma Committee report was submitted after 29 days, after considering 80,000 suggestions received during the period.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Results of protests, Justice Verma Committee and changes in law
The report indicated that failures on the part of the government and police were the root cause behind crimes against women. Suggestions in the report included the need to review the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) in conflict areas, and setting the maximum punishment for rape as death penalty rather than life imprisonment. The committee did not favour lowering the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Results of protests, Justice Verma Committee and changes in law
On 26 December 2012, a Commission of Inquiry headed by former Delhi High Court judge Usha Mehra was set up to identify lapses, determine responsibility in relation to the incident, and suggest measures to make Delhi and the wider National Capital Region safer for women. On 1 January 2013, a task force headed by the Union Home Secretary was established to look into women's safety issues in Delhi and review the functioning of the city police force on a regular basis.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Results of protests, Justice Verma Committee and changes in law
On 3 February 2013, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 was promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee. It provides for amendment of the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, on laws related to sexual offences. The ordinance provides for the death penalty in cases of rape. According to Minister of Law and Justice Ashwani Kumar, 90 percent of the suggestions given by the Verma Committee Report were incorporated into the Ordinance. However, critics state that many key suggestions of the commission have been ignored, including the criminalisation of marital rape and trying military personnel accused of sexual offences under criminal law.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Results of protests, Justice Verma Committee and changes in law
In a December 2013 interview, Nirbhaya's parents, Badri Nath Singh and Asha Devi, said they were trying to get the juvenile law changed in such crimes as the rape and murder of their daughter. They petitioned the Supreme Court to try the juvenile in a criminal court instead of a Juvenile Justice court. The juvenile defendant was sent to borstal youth detention for three years and then released. He was just short of 18 years when he committed the crime.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Results of protests, Justice Verma Committee and changes in law
In a March 2015 interview with The Tribune, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said that Government is going ahead with a law treating juveniles as adults in grave crimes.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Results of protests, Justice Verma Committee and changes in law
On 22 December 2015, Rajya Sabha passed the Juvenile Justice Bill, which proposed that the accused who are above 16 years of age will be treated as an adult in the court of law.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Anniversary memorials
On 16 December 2013, the anniversary of the attack, activists held memorials throughout New Delhi in memory of the victim widely known as Nirbhaya, meaning "fearless". Members of women's organisations lit candles in her memory and protested against exploitation of women. University students and others organised a candlelight march at the bus stand in South Delhi where Nirbhaya and her friend Pandey boarded the bus in which the rape and beatings took place. At a commemorative prayer meeting political leaders resolved to increase efforts to improve women's security.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Anniversary memorials
Speaking with the victim's mother, former chief minister Sheila Dikshit said that Delhi's society and the various authorities will work together to build a permanent legacy to her daughter: "... whatever you will want in her memory, we will try to fulfill. And we will try with a conviction that such an incident is not repeated with anybody else in the future". The victim's parents spoke at a memorial saying that they were proud of the courage that their daughter showed, which they believe "has spurred more women to speak out instead of hiding the crimes committed against them".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Anniversary memorials
In December 2014, the two-year anniversary of the attack, referring to a woman who was raped in a car operated by an Uber driver, the parents remarked to the press that not much had changed: "Nothing in India has changed since 16 December 2012. All promises and statements made by our leaders and ministers have turned out to be shallow. Our suffering gives them their moment in limelight. My daughter asks me what I have done to get her justice. She asks what am I doing so that many more like her get justice and I wake up to realise how helpless and trivial I am..."


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Anniversary memorials
"Nirbhaya Chetna Diwas", a public event organised by women's and citizens groups, candle light vigils, prayer meetings, and other events were held on 16 December 2015 at the Jantar Mantar to pay homage to Jyoti on the third anniversary of her death. In what was called "a brave homage to her daughter", Jyoti's mother, Asha Devi, said, "My daughter's name was Jyoti Singh and I am not ashamed to name her. Those who commit heinous crimes like rape, their heads should hang in shame, not the victims' or their families'." Devi spoke out against the upcoming release of the juvenile and put forth four demands for justice:


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Anniversary memorials
On the third death anniversary of our death, we are seeing the release of the juvenile convict. Where is justice in that? I do not know whether he is 16 or 18. I only know that he has committed a brutal crime and there should be no age limit for punishment; [...] the juvenile convict should be sentenced to death, fast-track courts be set up in all the courts to offer speedy justice to sexual assault victims, amendments to the Juveniles Justice Act be passed and utilisation of Nirbhaya Fund for setting up high quality forensic labs in all states.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Changes to the legal system
The outpouring of anger and grief following the rape and murder gave rise to hopes for change in India. The government responded with the passage of several new sexual assault laws, including a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years for gang rape, and six new fast-track courts created solely for rape prosecutions. As an indicator of the scope of the problem of rape prosecution, the "Nirbhaya" case was the only conviction obtained among the 706 rape cases filed in New Delhi in 2012.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Changes to the legal system
Between 16 December 2012 and 4 January 2013, Delhi police recorded 501 allegations of harassment and 64 of rape, but only four inquiries were launched. However, it appears that the "Nirbhaya" case has had an effect on the willingness of rape or molestation victims to report the crime; police records show that during the final nine months of 2013 almost twice as many rape victims filed a police report and four times as many allegations of molestation were made.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Changes to the legal system
A recent report released by the National Crime Records Bureau shows that 95 percent of the cases brought to the police were classified as a crime. However, there is a large backlog of cases with fewer than 15 percent of those charged tried in 2012, leaving 85 percent waiting to come to trial.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Changes to the legal system
On 16 December 2013, the one-year anniversary of the rape was commemorated in London with a public memorial to honour the victim. Speakers included Meera Syal, whose parents are from New Delhi. Speaking of the anger that was expressed at the time of the rape, she said, "We need to hold onto that anger and demand that the Indian Government enforces all the promised changes of its recent Criminal Law Amendment Act, which changed laws to expand the definition of rape and incorporated new offences including acid attack, sexual harassment, voyeurism and stalking". She also said that activists need to act in solidarity with other organisations to stop violence against women and girls around the world.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Changes to the legal system
Following the incident the government set up the Nirbhaya Fund for "empowerment, safety and security of women and girl children. The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry. However, an Oxfam India report published in 2021 shows that the fund remains underused and underutilized.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Public discussions about violence against women
Observers agree that the victim's ordeal has brought a change to public conversations about women's issues, with men joining in the discussions as well. A young woman who had taken part in the protests at the time of the rape said a year later, "A welcome change is that the taboo on discussing rape and sexual violence has been broken. The protests brought debates and discussions to our homes." She also said that since the rape and protests the media is now providing coverage of sexual violence. However, she saw "absolutely no change in the rape culture and related brutality.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Public discussions about violence against women
The streets are not safe. Teasing and catcalling or worse are to be found everywhere. Sexual harassment in public places as well as inside the home is still rampant." She added, "I do acknowledge, however, that a year is too less to undo what patriarchy has done over centuries. It is too embedded in our homes, our institutions and in our laws. The police may be a little more receptive, but it is not out of a sense of duty but out of the fear of censure".


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Public discussions about violence against women
A poll in October 2017, the first of its kind in the world, which was published by Thomson Reuters Foundation, found that Delhi was the fourth most dangerous city in the world for women and it was also the worst city in the world for women when it came to sexual violence, rape and harassment.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Nirbhaya Trust
In December 2013, the family of the victim along with social entrepreneur Sarvesh Kumar Tiwari established the Nirbhaya Trust, an institute formed to assist women who have experienced violence to find shelter and legal assistance. Due to the fact that Indian laws do not allow the publishing of a rape victim's name, it was named Nirbhaya which means fearless in Hindi, after the name used by the media. The victim's father stated, "So many people supported us, so ... we want [to] help those girls who have no one."


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, BBC Storyville: India's Daughter
India's Daughter (2015) is a documentary film directed and produced by Leslee Udwin, and is part of the BBC's ongoing Storyville series. It was scheduled to be broadcast on International Women's Day, 8 March 2015, in India on NDTV 24x7 and in UK on BBC Four. On 1 March it was revealed that the filmmakers had interviewed one of the rapists while he was being held in the Tihar jail. Soon, the news was picked up by Indian media outlets. The Indian government blocked its broadcast in India by obtaining a court order on 4 March.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, BBC Storyville: India's Daughter
The BBC said it would comply with the order and did not broadcast the film in India. In the UK however, the BBC moved the transmission forward to 4 March, and it was shown on that date. The film was also uploaded on YouTube and soon went viral with various shares on social media. On 5 March, the Indian government directed YouTube to block the video in India and YouTube complied with the order. The film has generated a great deal of controversy in both India and worldwide.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, BBC Storyville: India's Daughter
Because India does not permit a rape victim's name to be published, the victim was called "Nirbhaya", which means fearless, because of her efforts to fight off her rapists and her insistence on making a detailed statement to the police before she died. However, following the death of their daughter, the parents were quoted in several media articles as saying they had no objections to using their daughter's name.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, BBC Storyville: India's Daughter
In the film the father states he is "happy" to reveal her name, Jyoti Singh, and on 5 March the father was quoted as saying he thought "everyone should watch the documentary, which showed 'the bitter truth' about attitudes to women in India". Even still, on 6 March, the news outlet The Hindu ran an article "Father objects to revealing gangrape victim's name in 'India's Daughter'" in which they quoted the father as saying that he planned to take legal action because her name was used.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, BBC Storyville: India's Daughter
The film's director and producer Leslee Udwin said that it was the courage and bravery shown by the unprecedented numbers of men and women who protested the rape and murder that inspired her to make the film. Speaking in an interview, Udwin said:


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, BBC Storyville: India's Daughter
Courageous and impassioned ordinary men and women of India braved the December freeze to protest in unprecedented numbers, withstanding an onslaught of teargas shells, lathi charges [baton charges] and water canons, to make their cry of 'enough is enough' heard. In this regard, India led the world by example. In my lifetime, I can't recall any other country standing up with such commitment and determination for women's rights.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, BBC Storyville: India's Daughter
In reference to the actual film, Nirbhaya's father, Badrinath Singh, said that India's Daughter "holds up a mirror to society", and that the screening of the film holds a significance in the sense "that the struggle that my daughter was part of continues." Singh has also said that since the death of his daughter "every girl on the street is [now] like a daughter" to him and his wife, and that people in general need to understand that their sons need to be taught to respect women. Speaking on 5 March, Singh said:


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, BBC Storyville: India's Daughter
My wife and I brought up our children with the sole intention of making them good citizens. I can proudly say that we have achieved that. Our daughter has shown society its true face. She has changed the lives of many young girls. She remains an inspiration even after her death. She fought back those devils. We are proud of our daughter.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Netflix Series Delhi Crime
Richie Mehta, a Canadian filmmaker, made a seven part web television series titled Delhi Crime in 2019. It was based on the aftermath and the subsequent manhunt of the perpetrators of the case. Starring Shefali Shah, Rasika Duggal and Adil Hussain, the series was released on Netflix. This 7 episode series won the Best Drama Series at the 48th International Emmy Awards.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Literary works
Motivated by Jyoti's rape and murder, Ram Devineni, Lina Srivastava, and Dan Goldman released the comic book Priya's Shakti. The storyline of the comic focuses on Priya, a human woman and ardent devotee of the Goddess Parvati, who has experienced a brutal rape and the social stigma and isolation resulting from it. Inspired by the goddess, Priya fights against gender-based sexual violence in India and around the world, supporting the movement against patriarchy and misogyny.


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Literary works
A book on the Nirbhaya case titled Courting Injustice: The Nirbhaya Case and its Aftermath was authored by Rajesh Talwar, and published by Hay House in 2013


2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, Legacy, Literary works
On 5 September 2014, Bandaru Dattareya, a member of Parliament and BJP National Vice President, inaugurated "Wo Desh Ki Beti" (Nation's Daughter), a social event at Hyderabad showcasing a collection of sixteen poems authored by Sunil Kumar Verma which depicted the pain of a nation at the gang rape of its daughters.


2012 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships
The 2012 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the 20th edition of the tournament which was part of the World Tour 250 series of the 2012 ATP World Tour. It took place in Delray Beach, United States between 27 February and 4 March 2012. Seventh-seeded Kevin Anderson won the singles title.


2012 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2012 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Finals, Doubles
Colin Fleming /  Ross Hutchins defeated  Michal Mertiňák /  André Sá 2–6, 7–6(7–5), [15–13]


2012 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships – Doubles
Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram were the defending champions but decided not to participate. Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins defeated Michal Mertiňák and André Sá 2–6, 7–6(7–5), [15–13] in the final to win the title.


2012 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships – Singles
Juan Martín del Potro was the defending champion, but chose to compete in Dubai instead. Kevin Anderson won the title after defeating Marinko Matosevic 6–4, 7–6(7–2) in the final.


2012 Delta State Statesmen football team
The 2012 Delta State Statesmen football represents Delta State University in the 2012 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Gulf South Conference.


2012 Democratic Action Party leadership election
A leadership election was held by the Democratic Action Party (DAP) on 15 December 2012.


2012 Democratic National Convention
The 2012 Democratic National Convention was a gathering, held from September 3–6, 2012, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which delegates of the Democratic Party nominated President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for reelection, in the 2012 United States national election.


2012 Democratic National Convention
On April 3, 2012, President Barack Obama won the Maryland and District of Columbia primaries, giving him more than the required 2,778 delegates to secure the presidential nomination. He had previously announced that Vice President Joe Biden would remain as his vice presidential running mate in his re-election bid. As of 2021, this was the most recent time that the Democratic Party nominated a ticket without a woman.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Background, Site selection
First Lady Michelle Obama announced on February 1, 2011, in an email to supporters that Charlotte, North Carolina, had been chosen as the site for the 2012 Convention. The event was the first nominating convention of a major party ever held in North Carolina. Charlotte had beaten three other finalists,  Cleveland, Minneapolis and St. Louis. It was expected that Charlotte's hosting of this event would generate more than $150 million for Charlotte and surrounding metropolitan areas and bring over 35,000 delegates and visitors. North Carolina was a closely contested state in the 2008 presidential election, with Barack Obama winning the state's 15 electoral votes by just 13,692 votes (out of more than 4.2 million votes cast) and Democrats Kay Hagan and Bev Perdue winning close elections for U.S. Senate and Governor, respectively.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Background, Site selection
On October 28, 2009, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent out letters to potential host cities seeking their interest in bidding for the convention. The deadline for cities to submit letters of interest was January 11, 2010. In March 2010, the DNC emailed interested cities request for proposals. The deadline for cities to respond was May 21, 2010.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Background, Site selection
On June 30, 2010, the DNC announced the four finalist cities.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities
All three dates of the convention were held at the Time Warner Cable Arena. The last night, Thursday, September 6, was originally scheduled to be held at the 72,000-seat Bank of America Stadium, where presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama was to deliver his acceptance speech. After Convention officials insisted that they would hold Thursday's activities at the stadium "rain or shine", the venue was moved to the 20,000 seat indoor arena "due to thunderstorm threat."


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities
Some in the media questioned the move, wondering whether it was motivated more by an inability to fill the 70,000-seat stadium and the possibility that empty seats would show a lack of enthusiasm. The risk of severe weather wasn't high; Charlotte NBC affiliate WCNC-TV chief meteorologist Brad Panovich tweeted that the "[s]evere threat is almost zero Thursday night & chance of rain is 20%", adding, "It's a simple question...if you had a Panthers game, concert or soccer match with a 20% chance of storms would you cancel 24 hrs prior?"


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities
The date of Obama's acceptance speech caused the National Football League to move the Kickoff game, normally on a Thursday, to Wednesday, September 5, to avoid a conflict. This in turn caused the DNC to move Joe Biden's vice presidential acceptance speech, normally held the day before the presidential acceptance speech, to Thursday, before Obama's speech, to avoid a conflict with the NFL game.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities, Tuesday, September 4 – Julián Castro and Michelle Obama
In the opening session on September 4, the keynote speech was delivered by then-37-year-old San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities, Tuesday, September 4 – Julián Castro and Michelle Obama
In his speech, Castro stated that "the Romney-Ryan budget … doesn't just pummel the middle class, it dismantles it...it dismantles what generations before have built to ensure that everybody can enter and stay in the middle class" and that "Now we need to make a choice...a choice between a country where the middle class pays more so that millionaires can pay less, or a country where everybody pays their fair share, so we can reduce the deficit and create the jobs of the future.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities, Tuesday, September 4 – Julián Castro and Michelle Obama
It's a choice between a nation that slashes funding for our schools and guts Pell Grants, or a nation that invests more in education. It's a choice between a politician who rewards companies that ship American jobs overseas, or a leader who brings jobs back home...this is the choice before us … Our choice is a man who has always chosen us. A man who already is our president, Barack Obama", with the Global Post describing the audience as "adoring and appreciative" and the speech as "powerful words, and the audience responded with gratitude."


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities, Tuesday, September 4 – Julián Castro and Michelle Obama
First Lady Michelle Obama gave the final speech of the evening, stating that "Barack knows what it means when a family struggles...he knows what it means to want something more for your kids and grandkids. Barack knows the American dream because he's lived it, and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we're from, or what we look like, or who we love."


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities, Tuesday, September 4 – Julián Castro and Michelle Obama
Her speech lasted 25 minutes and focused on the Barack Obama she fell in love with as well as the strength of the American Spirit and those in the military. "I've seen it in our  men and women in uniform and our proud military families…in a young man blinded by a bomb in Afghanistan who said simply, 'I'd give my eyes 100 times again to have the chance to do what I have done, and what I can still do." Jim Rutenberg, of The New York Times, described the crowd as "electrified" by her remarks, "her impassioned delivery drawing the crowd to its feet."


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities, Wednesday, September 5 – Elizabeth Warren and Bill Clinton
David Foster was identified as a former employee of Bain Capital, advertised as an employee of GST Steel during Bain's acquisition of the then-bankrupt company in 2001, after Romney had taken a leave of absence for the company. Foster, however, was never a GST Steel employee; instead, he was an employee of the United Steelworkers of America assigned to organize the local chapter of the union.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities, Wednesday, September 5 – Elizabeth Warren and Bill Clinton, Platform vote and controversy
The original 2012 party platform caused controversy after it was written, because the typical invocations and references to God and God-given rights were omitted, and language affirming the role of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was removed. On Wednesday, September 5, former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland introduced an amendment on the floor of the convention to reinsert language invoking God and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Convention chairman Antonio Villaraigosa put the amendment to a voice vote requiring a two-thirds majority for passage.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities, Wednesday, September 5 – Elizabeth Warren and Bill Clinton, Platform vote and controversy
After the first vote was indecisive, Villaraigosa called for a second vote, which was again met with an equal volume of "ayes" and "nos". A woman standing to his left said, "You've got to rule, and then you've got to let them do what they're gonna do." Villaraigosa called a third vote with the same result. Villaraigosa then declared the amendment passed, causing an eruption of boos on the floor.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities, Wednesday, September 5 – Elizabeth Warren and Bill Clinton, Nomination of Obama
Bill Clinton officially nominated Obama for re-election and Obama was nominated unanimously by the 5,556 delegates of the convention. During the roll call, Mississippi delayed its vote so Ohio could give Obama the nomination, putting the tally over the top of 2,778 votes. The roll call continued while delegates started to leave and ended with Wyoming casting its votes in an almost empty hall. The Balloting:


2012 Democratic National Convention, Convention activities, Thursday, September 6 – Joe Biden and Barack Obama, Military montage
During the last night, as Senator Kerry and retired Admiral Nathman spoke, there was a montage of military ships and aircraft, as a tribute to veterans; the ships were Russian warships, and the aircraft were Turkish F-5s. The Democratic National Convention Committee later apologized for the featuring of Russian warships.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Protest activity and policing
Protest activity and demonstrations was anticipated at the convention. Over ninety organizations gathered into a group known as the Coalition to March on Wall St. South, and have declared their intention to protest at the convention. The left-leaning coalition reflects the rhetoric and ideology of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and several Occupations from North Carolina are endorsers of the coalition. Demonstrators say they want to call attention to the influence of corporations on politics as well as the role of the military-industrial complex in US politics; they have scheduled a dance party to honor imprisoned soldier Chelsea Manning. One group of undocumented immigrant workers is traveling to the convention via bus, "The Undocubus." They risk deportation if they are arrested for civil disobedience.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Protest activity and policing
Charlotte received a $50 million grant from the federal government for convention security. The city spent roughly $25 million on its police force. Some of the money has been allocated to police bicycles ($303,596), software ($61,000), and a 'command center upgrade' ($704,795). The city also spent $937,852 on officers from neighboring forces.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Protest activity and policing
In anticipation of protest activity, the city of Charlotte passed a variety of new ordinances. These include:


2012 Democratic National Convention, Protest activity and policing
These ordinances were permanent and remained effective after the end of the convention. The camping prohibition was used to evict Occupy Charlotte from its encampment in January 2012. . A request by Occupy Charlotte to enjoin enforcement of the camping prohibition was rejected by a State Court judge in March 2012.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Protest activity and policing
The DNC was designated a National Special Security Event, and the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security did some of the policing. The Charlotte Police Department was also responsible for the areas outside the convention venues. Police noted that it would be relatively easy to surround protestors in the city's downtown business district, which is enclosed by expressway.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Protest activity and policing
By contract the DNC required Charlotte to create a demonstration area for people to exercise their First Amendment rights. Eventually the city of Charlotte became an open Free Speech Zone with peaceful protests, pickets, and pamphlets throughout the city.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Controversies, Location
After North Carolina voters passed Amendment 1, on May 8, 2012, banning same-sex marriage in the state, several groups called for the DNC to pull the convention out of Charlotte. Unions also complained about North Carolina's labor laws. However, the DNC said that they would still proceed with their plans to hold it in the state.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Controversies, Location
The leader of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz verified in an interview that North Carolina was chosen due to the controversy in the state and stated that it is "a critical battleground". When questioned about being able to raise the funds for the convention Schultz stated "We're not having a hard time raising the funds", contrary to reports.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Controversies, Disqualified delegates
Randall Terry, a vocal pro-life advocate and former Republican congressional and state senate candidate, received a large enough percentage of votes in the Oklahoma Primary to receive as many as seven delegates. However, the DNC has declared him as "illegitimate" because he failed to inform the Oklahoma Democratic Party of the names of his delegates. As such, no Terry delegates were in attendance.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Controversies, Disqualified delegates
Keith Russell Judd and John Wolfe, Jr., who have also both qualified for delegates to the convention by virtue of their performances in West Virginia (in Judd's case), Arkansas and Louisiana (in Wolfe's), faced similar obstacles to having their delegates seated. Wolfe commenced legal proceedings to have delegates in his name seated but lost his case one week prior to the start of the convention.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Funding
The Democratic Party announced in February 2011 that it would not accept corporate donations to fund the convention. This decision was made to increase the party's populist appeal and create distance from Bank of America and the financial industry. In June 2012, the convention was $27 million short of its fundraising goals and consequently canceled some planned events. (The last DNC raised $33 million from corporate donors.)


2012 Democratic National Convention, Funding
The Obama campaign also received less in union donations than it did in 2008.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Funding
Corporate sponsors were able to make in-kind donations such as transportation, as well as to host parties. They could also donate to a non-profit called "New American City, Inc.", which was run by the directors of the convention host committee. New American City, incorporated on April 4, 2011, existed to "defray administrative expenses incurred by the host committee organizations". (The host committee, in turn, provided "goods, facilities, equipment and services".)


2012 Democratic National Convention, Funding
Donors to this group included Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Duke Energy.


2012 Democratic National Convention, Funding
The Party's convention funds were stored in a Bank of America account. The convention also had a $10 million line of credit available from Duke Energy.


2012 Democratic Party (HK) leadership election
The Democratic Party leadership election was held on 16 December 2012 for the 30-member 10th Central Committee of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong, including chairman and two vice-chairman posts. The incumbent acting Chairwomen Emily Lau defeated Vice-Chairman Sin Chung-kai by a narrow margin, becoming the first Chairwoman of the party. 300 party members voted in the election.


2012 Democratic Party (HK) leadership election, Eligibility
The Central Committee was elected by the party congress. All public office holders, including the members of the Legislative Council and District Councils, are eligible to vote in the party congress. Every 30 members can also elect a delegate who holds one vote in the congress.


2012 Democratic Party (HK) leadership election, Overview
After the devastating defeat in the 2012 Legislative Council election, Chairman Albert Ho resigned as leader, citing failure to present a united front for the pan-democratic camp, failure to retain seats from the previous elections, and infighting between pro-democracy parties. The chairmanship was temporarily taken over by vice-chairwoman Emily Lau until the leadership election in the end of the year.


2012 Democratic Party (HK) leadership election, Overview
Emily Lau, prominent figure in the pro-democracy camp who had been legislator for New Territories East since 1991 only joined and became one of the two Vice-Chairmen of the Democratic Party in 2008 after she quit her group the Frontier as founding convenor. Emily Lau decided to run in last-minute candidate after repeatedly saying she would not run.


2012 Democratic Party (HK) leadership election, Overview
Tho other vice-chairman Sin Chung-kai was the founding member of the party had returned into the LegCo in 2012 for Hong Kong Island after serving as the representative of the Information Technology functional constituency for ten years. Sin headed a 12-member team with the slogan "breakthrough, reform, democracy". The Team included Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong and Lo Kin-hei who were contested for the two Vice-Chairman posts.


2012 Democratic Party (HK) leadership election, Overview
Southern District Councillor Au Nok-hin who was 25 years old, joined the party in 2009 and was elected a district councillor in 2011. Au ran for the Chairman post but he said he knew he had little chance of winning but wanted to demonstrate the party did not have a "big brother culture".


2012 Democratic Party (HK) leadership election, Results
The incumbent acting Chairwomen Emily Lau defeated Vice-Chairman Sin Chung-kai by a narrow margin, becoming the first Chairwoman of the party. Nevertheless, Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong and Lo Kin-hei were both elected as Vice-Chairmen, by defeating legislator Wu Chi-wai for Kowloon East. Wu still won the most votes for a seat on the Central Committee. Lo, 28 years old, became the youngest Vice-Chairman of the party's history. 11 of the 30 new central committee members were under 40 years old with the average age of 44, 4 years younger than the last committee.


2012 Democratic Party (HK) leadership election, Results
The elected members of the 10th Central Committee are listed as following: