By IANS,
Lucknow: Massive protests over the brutal gangrape in Delhi erupted across many parts of Uttar Pradesh Saturday, as people took to the streets to vent their anger at the rapists and the inability of the police to prevent the heinous crime.
Demonstrations were led by young men and women, largely college students, who braved the chilly weather in Meerut, Kanpur and Lucknow to protest the rape, which left the 23-year-old woman, a student of physiotherapy, mauled.
Over two dozen girls belonging to a madrasa demonstrated outside the Eidgah in the state capital. Calling not only for an early and severe punishment for the rapists, they demanded that better security be put in place in the state for girls.
“It is not just about New Delhi, the situation is more or less the same everywhere” a girl told IANS.
Carrying placards demanding a crackdown on lumpen elements and on men referred to euphemistically as “eve-teasers”, the girls also demanded that websites showing pornographic material should be clamped shut.
The easy access to such sites, and proliferation of pornography, the women protestors said, had led to an eruption of carnal desire that resulted in rape.
Students from colleges and institutes were joined by members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who blocked traffic at the busy GPO intersection in Lucknow.
They demanded strict action against the rapists and also against Delhi Police, which had cracked down on peaceful protests at the Raisina Hill in the union capital.
Vaibhav Maheshwari, a member of AAP, said that despite being shamed by the rape, the Delhi Police was cracking down on peaceful protests.
Demonstrations and rallies were also taken out in Meerut and Kanpur.