Today, on the occasion of Women’s Day, women and men gathered by the thousands at Connaught Place market area to raise their voice against sexual harassment — on roads and in the privacy of home. Forming a human chain, their voices slowly rose to a crescendo, demanding capital punishment for rapists. And nothing less...
Women and men from all walks of life could be seen holding poster with the slogan — ‘Rape Roko’ [prevent rape]. The campaign spearheaded by Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal saw the coming together of several women-centric NGOs from different parts of the city.
The event began with a musical programme inside the Central Park auditorium, where a tribute was paid to Nirbhaya, who was gangraped and brutally assaulted on a moving bus in South Delhi on a fateful December night in 2012.
Varsha Aanad, who came to support the movement with her college friends, spoke to City Spidey. “The government or the police can’t alone bring changes in the society. Every individual needs to raise his/her voice. It’s a fight against the deeply entrenched patriarchal mindset of people.”
Apart from college students and school girls, hundreds of women from rural areas joined the movement as well.
Class VII student Firdosh, who came with her mother and other school friends from Najafgarh, said, “I have come here to support the Rape Roko movement. Every day, girls are being raped and killed in Delhi. We are not safe anywhere — not in our colony, not on the roads. Even reaching school is fraught with dangers!”
