Around 50 young girls and women gathered near the Gandhi statue on Marina Beach on Wednesday evening to pay respects to S. Swathi, who was brutally murdered in broad daylight at the Nungambakkam station last week.
“We have assembled here for Swathi and all the women who suffer abuse of some kind or the other. This has to stop, once and for all,” said Nandini Rajendran, a college student. The women stood in a circle near the statue, holding candles and posters reading ‘Stop violence against women.’
“A girl was murdered in broad daylight, in a railway station, which didn’t have any CCTV camera. And Chennai has been cited as one of the safest cities. What an irony,” said R. Leelavathi, State coordinator, Women’s Struggle Committee.
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Ms. Leelavathi and other activists distributed pamphlets with a seven-point charter stating immediate needs for the well- being of women in the city. “Value education is the first one,” said R. Geetha from the Unorganised Workers Federation. “Young boys and girls must be given value-based education right from school. Films depicting women as sex objects or as someone who falls in love after being harassed by a guy should be regulated. Pornography should be banned,” she said.