JUSTICE FOR WOMEN NOW!

Call for a citizen’s march to India Gate on 27 December. Assemble at the Gol Gumbaz Nizamuddin at 2 p.m.

We demand

  1. Sack the Delhi Police Commissioner.
  2. Fast-track 1 lakh pending rape cases across the country within 100 days. Ensure swift and certain punishment in all cases of crimes against women.
  3. Register FIRs on all complaints of rape, sexual harassment and crimes against women. Announce and publicise gender-just protocols for FIRs and police investigation of crimes against women. Punish police who violate the protocols and display gender bias or victim blaming. Implement police reforms and judicial recommendations. There should be no immunity for offenders, whatever their status.
  4. Announce a process of consultation with women’s organisations and students for a Special Session of Parliament in order to review and enact robust, democratic, gender-sensitive laws on crimes against women, including ‘honour’ crimes. We demand that the Bills on sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace must not be passed in their present form. We hope that the judicial commission will take on board the experience and representations of women’s group known for their work on sexual assault and harassment.
  5. Ensure massive expansion of safe public transport for women.

The young student who was brutally gang-raped in Delhi on 16th December is still battling for her life. We wish her a speedy recovery and convey all our support to her family and friends. We demand speedy trial and punishment for all the perpetrators of this heinous crime.We believe that the death penalty will not help lead to more convictions or end rape and will not bring about gender-just laws.

Ours is a peaceful protest. We condemn the highhandedness with which the police have cracked down on peaceful protestors since 16 December. We demand the immediate withdrawal of Section 144 and the closure of metro stations, and assert our right to assemble and peacefully protest at India Gate. At the same time, we also condemn the actions of a handful of anti-social elements who have tried to provoke violence. Women demand equality and freedom from violence in their homes as well as in the public sphere. We condole the death of the police constable after the violence on 23 December.

Despite massive protests across Delhi and India, the government’s assurances have been hollow and smack of tokenism. Until we are given firm assurances on our demands, we will continue our struggle. We call for strong resistance to any attempts to make women responsible for their own safety and to indulge in victim-blaming in cases of sexual violence. We demand that people in public positions who indulge in victim-blaming should quit.

It is now up to the government —

COMMIT OR QUIT!

We appeal to all concerned citizens to join a March from Nizamuddin (Gol Gumbaz) to India Gate on 27 December at 2 pm.

No organization banners, flags or slogans are allowed.

No form of violence or provocation will be tolerated.