Candlelight march against women harassment in Delhi
By IANSSunday, February 13, 2011
NEW DELHI - In the wake of rising cases of rape and sexual harassment in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), around 150 people, mostly students, Sunday held a candlelight march at Jantar Mantar, demanding the safety of women.
Members of various social organisations and students from Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia University and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University participated in the silent protest march.
The march came in the wake of the brutal rape of a 16-year-old Dalit girl in Bindaki area of Uttar Pradesh. Her hands, nose and ears were allegedly chopped off by three men for resisting the rape attempt.
Delhi has never been safe for women. Statistics reveal that every hour a girl is being raped in the city, the safety for women has become the largest concern. In a recent incident, a Dalit girl was brutally raped in Bindaki in Uttar Pradesh, said GGSIPU’s student council president Siddharth Tomar, one of the organisers of the march.
The students shouted slogans Like Jessica, Ruchika, next is you and me and marched from Janata Dal-United office to Jantar Mantar.
All we are asking for is justice. This could have happened to anyone, and we are just saying that such rapists must be given a stringent punishment, so that another incident like this never takes place,” said Priyanka Choudhary, a Delhi University student.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics for 2010, Delhi recorded the highest rate of crime against women at 27.6 percent as against the national average of 14.1 percent.
Among the 35 mega cities in the country, those having more than 10 lakh of population and above, Delhi reported 562 of the total 1,693 rape cases. Out of total number of 2,409 cases of kidnapping and abduction of women, Delhi reported 900 cases.
