Last Sept big rally ends at 3 am with plans for nightlong Mahalaya protest
Times of India | 22 September 2024
Kolkata: The last mega protest rally to seek justice for the R G Kar rape and murder victim ended with the 42 km relay torch rally on Saturday. Originating from Hiland Park at 4.30 pm on Friday, the rally ended at Shyambazar at 3 am on Saturday.
Though no mega protests are lined up till the end of this month, there are plans afoot by a section of citizens to organize a night-long affair to usher in Mahalaya.
The victim’s family, including her parents, joined the relay torch rally at Shyambazar and addressed the gathering of more than 1,000-odd people. They appealed to the citizens to carry on with the movement and not to leave the streets as it was instilling confidence in them to keep up the fight for their daughter.
The rally covered Ruby, Chingrighata, Beleghata, NRS Hospital, Moulali, Park Circus, Academy of Fine Arts, Dharmatala, College Street, Vivekananda Road and Hatibagan. Locals continued to join in from the neighbourhoods and offered water to the protesters. Some citizens parked their cars and alighted from the vehicles to show solidarity with the rallyists. “When the torch-rally entered College Street around 1 am, it was a surreal atmosphere with reverberating slogans and the junior doctors from Medical College, who were agitating at Swasthya Bhavan, joining the rally and carrying the torch forward,” said an onlooker. The unique march, which was organized by Joint Democratic Front (JDF), brought together for the first time multiple forums from different sections of the society. While there is no big protest call from the JDF right now, discussions are being carried out on how to carry forward the movement. Individual forums have their own plans in respective neighbourhoods and for reaching out to women from different sectors, besides spreading awareness on gender rights in schools and colleges. Aritra De from Manab Jameen believes that the joint initiative gave momentum to the citizen’s protest. He added that there was a need to spread the movement to suburban and rural areas. Rimjhim Sinha, who called for the ‘Reclaim the Night’ movement, said, “We will be talking with the coordinators of multiple forums that are under JDF to introspect and take the next course of action. It is also essential to see that the justice cry is not shifted during the festive season.” Dhritiman Sengupta, one of the alumni of a South Kolkata school, feels that it is necessary to stay united in this fight for justice. Gender rights activist, Satabdi Das, said, “Pritilata Waddedar was martyred on Sept 24. Therefore we are calling everyone to draw inspiration from her and observe Sept 23 and 24 as a day to pledge against rape culture and gender discrimination in schools, colleges and localities.” Local protests were held at Bagha Jatin, Sakher bazar and Sinthi More on Saturday.