Refusing to let the protest against the brutal rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student die down, school and college students continued to assemble at Jantar Mantar for a third day today, demanding harsh punishment for the guilty and a change in laws to stop crime against women.
Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the nation and described the crime as monstrous and requested people to maintain peace and calm in the national capital, opposition parties led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were planning to meet President Pranab Mukherjee to demand a special session of Parliament to discuss crime against women.
“There is genuine and justified anger and anguish at the ghastly crime of gang rape committed last Sunday in Delhi. As a father of three daughters myself, I feel as strongly about this as each one of you. My wife, my family and I are all joined in our concern for the young woman who was the victim of this heinous crime. I also feel deeply sad at the turn of events leading to clashes between protesters and police forces. Anger at this crime is justified, but violence will serve no purpose. I appeal to all concerned citizens to maintain peace and calm. I assure you that we will make all possible efforts to ensure security and safety of women in this country,” said Singh in his address.
The PM added the Union government would examine not only the responses to the current case, but also all aspects concerning the safety of women and children. Delhi police said that trial in the case would start within a week.
“Parliament and all party meetings are established forums of our democratic polity. There have been repeated instances that effective parliamentary intervention has given assurance to the country and led to positive outcomes in many situations in the past. It seems curious and surprising that the government chose to mechanically reject these most eminently desirable demands. The entire response of the government is not only grossly indifferent, but also a deliberate attempt to ignore the popular anger with impunity. It is abundantly clear that the government will not talk to the peaceful agitators who are angry for the most legitimate cause,” said Sushma Swaraj, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, after meeting of top BJP leaders.
Support for the 23-year-old victim is steadily growing in the capital, as students from as far as Rohtak in Haryana, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh are reaching Delhi to continue the protests peacefully. Although the number of protesters has gone down considerably and only a couple of hundred students were seen protesting at Jantar Mantar today, agitators said they came on a Monday morning because they feared most of people would go to their office and nobody would come out to protest for the victim.
“Our demand is very specific, the government should change the laws so that there is no repeat of such incidents and girls, too, feel safe in Delhi. We don’t feel safe in Delhi today. We have spoken to our parents and they encourage us to take part in these protests. We coordinate with our friends through Facebook or phone to reach Jantar Mantar,” said Pranisha Singh, a 20-year-old student who was with her friends to protest against the gang rape incident.
Students of Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University were also taking part in the protests. The Union government has shut as many as nine metro stations around India Gate and Raisina Hill and imposed a ban on assembly to stop people from gathering to protest, but students refuse to be threatened by the government action.
A group of 35 medical students had travelled for almost two hours in a public transport bus from Rohtak to take part in the protest. “We have been coming for the last two days. We don’t want these protests to die down. We don’t mind getting beaten up by police in this process. If we get scared of police beating today, then tomorrow similar assaults can happen to any other girl,” said Priya Legha, a medical student from Rohtak.
