As the Delhi gang-rape evoked nation-wide condemnation with the growing demand to award stringent punishment to perpetrators of the heinous crime, many girl students in the city think it is the time to train them in self-defence.
“Yes, it is high-time for us to get trained on how to defend ourselves as there is no safety. The Delhi incident has totally devastated us,” says Nirisha, who is studying B.Com at Gayatri Vidya Parishad Degree College at MVP Colony.
She is one among many students who took out a rally from the college to the ICICI centre and MVP Circle on Saturday to express their ire against the gang-rape of the 23-year-old physiotherapy student, who is battling for life at Safdarjung Hospital.
Many like Nirisha feel that training in self-defence for girls should be made compulsory as it is not safe for them to move in the streets.
“There is a sense of insecurity everywhere with the number of physical assaults on women on the rise. It is time to teach the rapists a fitting lesson. Serious action is required to end atrocities on women,” said Ruby Singh, final B.Sc student.
The anger among the students is palpable. “With the gang-rape in a moving bus in Delhi streets, the reputation of India is at stake. It is very bad that some barbaric people consider women a sex object,” said Shagen Sakshi, first year B.Com student.
The girl students carried placards demanding justice to the victim of the rape on a fast-track mode. Some of the placards read “don’t teach us how to dress, teach men how to behave.” Aditya, Iqbal and few other students also voiced their protest against growing incidence of torture and atrocities against women and demanded strong legislation to punish those who commit the offences.
GVP College Principal M.F. Rahman, head of department of physics P.D. Lavanya and others took part in the rally.
