By TCN News
Cambridge Massachusetts – On a cold, snowy Sunday evening of December 15, 2013, about 25 people gathered at Harvard Square to commemorate the one year anniversary of the Nirbhaya incident of December 16, 2012. They stood silently with lit candles and placards denouncing violence against women. Poems empowering women and a pledge to actively fight against violence against women were read.
Photo by Govind Vakill
The event also focused on some of the changes that have occurred in India because of the brutality of the Nirbhaya event and the subsequent protests that erupted. Some of these changes, as were read out during the vigil, include stronger laws against rape and sexual assault, increased jail terms and harsher punishments for rapists including the death penalty, acid violence, disrobing, stalking and voyeurism are now specific crimes (section 326, 354 and their subsections in the Indian Penal code) and their punishments have been prescribed.
Additionally, the blanket security that protected police officers who failed to register complaints has been removed, non-military public servants who commit sexual assault will now face compulsory jail time, evidence procedures and the trial are easier for women and the definition of rape has been expanded. Absence of physical struggle no longer implies consent, healthcare providers are now required to give free immediate medical care to victims of rape and acid attacks, and, finally, grassroots activism for women’s rights has increased dramatically all over India, not only among educated urban women, but also among rural and tribal women.
The vigil included singing of the “Azadi” song, which has words like, “Hum Kya Chahate? Azaadi! Raat mein bhi Azaadi! Din mein bhi Azaadi!” (What do we want? Freedom!
Freedom during the nights! Freedom during the day.)
The event ended with a pledge which condemned all gender violence and resolved to end all forms of gender inequity and violence. The group sang “We shall overcome” in both English and Hindi as a fitting finale to the evening. The event was organized by 3 South Asian organizations of the Boston area: Saheli – Support and Friendship for South Asian Women and Families, WRISE, and Dawn Worldwide.