By TCN News,
Lucknow: To protest against the cruelty upon women and to wake up the government to initiate for protection of women rights in Uttar Pradesh, several groups working for women rights organized a silent march in the state capital Lucknow on 12th Feb. 2011.
Holding placards and banners depicting their woes, women both young and old marched silently from the UP Hindi Sansthan in Hazratganj area to the GPO crossing. Though there was no slogan shouting or chest beating to lament the state of declining law and order in the state when it came to providing protection to women against violence, the message which the marchers wanted to send out to the power corridors was loud enough.
Addressing the marchers, Anjali Singh, Director, Saaksham Foundation, said: “What is horrifying is that the age of the victims is steadily declining. If a study is done of the cases just two months down the line it will become quite evident that minor girls are targets of terrible brutal attacks and sexual abuse. This is totally unacceptable as children need to be protected not preyed upon.”
Coming down heavily on government’s apathy, she said: “It is the state government’s responsibility to ensure that the enforcement agencies are hauled up for such a lapse of law and order but it is amazing that no police action is initiated against the culprits who are not seasoned criminals but common citizens who have no fear of breaking the law when it comes to attacking a woman. As a woman Chief Minister is leading the UP state it is even more shameful what women and girls have to face in Uttar Pradesh.”
Asha Mishra, General Secretary, National Federation For Indian Women (NFIW), said: “It is enough to know the carelessness of police in the state that hundreds of women took out an hour long procession in the middle of Hazratganj and not a single police person was present on the scene. One can imagine how alert or clued in the police force is when it comes to fighting crime against women or creating a protective environment for them in the city capital itself. We never have seen such anarchy as we are seeing today here.”
At the end of the march, a delegation of participating organizations submitted a memorandum to the office of the Governor of Uttar Pradesh with several demands including better law and order in the state, sensitization of police personnel towards female victims who seek help from police stations, forwarding of all women related cases of violence to fast track courts and proper compensation and rehabilitation of the victims.