Photos: Artist Chandan Gomes’ images from the Dec 16, 2012 gangrape protest

On December 16, 2012, artist Chandan Gomes was on a bus in Delhi with a friend around the same time that a 23-year-old paramedic student was gang raped inside another moving bus in the city by a gang of six persons. The next day, Gomes documented the protest in Delhi and the police brutality that followed.

Updated on: Dec 16, 2017 9:26 AM IST

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“Thousands of us occupied Rajpath, the most powerful corridor in our country. Tear gas shells were fired and water cannons were employed to disperse us, to scare us,” said Gomes. (Chandan Gomes )

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“Many were heartlessly beaten by the police forces. Our only fault was that we stood in solidarity with that unknown citizen who was brutally gang raped and left to die.” (Chandan Gomes)

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“Ordinary citizens, faceless citizens, unknown citizens came out onto the streets.” (Chandan Gomes)

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“I too took to the streets, like the many young women and men of this city, in a bid to get rid of our collective helplessness.” (Chandan Gomes)

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The paramedic student succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, barely two weeks after she had been brutally gang raped. (Chandan Gomes)

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“We wanted to reclaim a city that we had lost to our apathy and indifference. Slowly but steadily that movement found its way in every neighbourhood, every alleyway of Delhi.” (Chandan Gomes)

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“They (the masses) were not called upon by a political or a religious outfit – they came out on their own to occupy a space that rightfully belonged to them, to confront their passiveness and of those around them.” (Chandan Gomes)

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“I was not documenting this movement as a photo journalist/documentary photographer but as a protestor who spent his Christmas & his New Year out on the streets raising his voice for justice, equality and freedom.” (Chandan Gomes)

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“Through this essay I wish to tell stories of friendship and courage that have gone undocumented. Through it I strive to bring forth the little details that make all the difference.” (Chandan Gomes)