Post date: Dec 29, 2012 5:3:54 PM
People from various walks of life across India express their condolences over the death of rape victim, also lash out at the administration for being incapable of providing a safe environment for women in the country, the national capital in particular.
BHUBANESWAR, ODISHA, INDIA (DECEMBER 29, 2012) (ANI) - People from various walks of life across India on Saturday (December 29) rued over the death of rape victim, also lashed out at the administration for being incapable of providing a safe environment for women, particularly in the national capital.
Housewives, working women and girl students gathered in large numbers at Bhubaneswar in eastern state of Odisha to share their anguish at the gruesome death of the 23-year-old para-medical student, who was brutally assaulted by a gang of six persons in a moving bus on the night of December 16.The beastly miscreants had also roughed up her male friend before tossing her in a semi-clad state and him out of the bus on a chilly night.
Later badly bruised and bleeding, she was rushed to the traumatic centre of a city hospital before being airlifted to Singapore on December 27 for treatment at a super-speciality hospital well known for transplant surgeries where she succumbed to her internal injuries earlier in the day.
In the backdrop of this, irate women took out a huge rally through the streets of Bhubaneswar as they raised anti-government and 'We Want Justice' slogans.
Speaking about this rally, a participant named Rajini said that demonstration has been organised to show their solidarity to the kith and kin of the gang rape victim and others who have met similar fate or forced to endure social stigma.
"First of all, this is a condolences meeting to the great soul that had been fighting very courageously till date and also solidarity of continuing this fight. The flight will never go in vain. There are many men, who have been sensitised with this issue, they will continue the fight and we are, all of us are here together to express our solidarity to the fight and to express our solidarity with the family and with all the people, who have been fighting through out the country," said Rajini.
Meanwhile at Mumbai in western state of Maharashtra, locals including the 'haves' and 'have-nots' took to streets and formed a human chain.
Expressing his grief over the rape incident, Ashok an elderly resident of Mumbai who took part in the solidarity rally termed it as a national shame and sought instant punishment for the accused persons.
"The incident happened to the girl was shameful for us and as well as for the country. We don't want such incidents to repeat again and the government should take up the mater seriously and the culprits should be given a strict punishment for committing such an heinous crime," said Ashok.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement that he was deeply saddened by the death and described the emotions associated with her case as 'perfectly understandable reactions from a young India and an India that genuinely desires change'.
At Patna in the eastern state of Bihar, thousands of school and college students took part in a mass rally demanding safety and security of women.
"We want the law and order should be strict and stringent actions should be taken against the culprits so that they would think 10 times before committing an offence of gang rape. We want to live safely and will continue our stir till girls are assured of security and safety," said Nisha, a protesting girl student in Patna.
A majority of India has complained that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's governmenthas done little to curb the abuse of women in the country of 1.2 billion.
A global poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in June found that India was the worst place to be a woman because of high rates of infanticide, child marriage and slavery.
Most rapes and other sex crimes in India go unreported and offenders are rarely punished, women's rights activists say.
However, the brutality of the December 16 assault sparked public outrage and calls for better policing and harsher punishment for rapists.