E-Paper
Chandigarh stalking: Women to ‘reclaim the streets’ with Geri Route march on Friday night
On August 11, its starts at 10pm. The starting point is the bus stop near Rose Garden on Madhya Marg, and it will end at Government College of Art in Sector 10 after covering what is known as ‘Geri Route’, in Sector 8, 9, 10 and 11.
In the wake of a late-night stalking incident with city-based DJ Varnika Kundu, a group of writers, poets, activists and others has decided to hold a ‘Reclaim the Streets’ demonstration and solidarity march on Friday night. This will be exactly a week after the night Kundu faced the horror inflicted allegedly by Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala’s son Vikas Barala and his friend.
The Facebook ‘event’ page is titled: ‘Bekhauf (Fearless) Azaadi March’. Its description says, “How safe are the streets for women? What happened with Varnika Kundu has left the ‘city beautiful’ in jitters. This isn’t the first time a woman has been harassed on the streets and it won’t be the last if we don’t reclaim the streets. It’s about time we smash down the patriarchal norms which restrict the women behind closed doors...”
Over 850 people had expressed interest in going to the event by 7.30 pm on Wednesday, while more than 250 had clicked ‘going’.
The event description ends with poetry: “Sadke bhi hamari, galiyan bhi hamari, raat bhi hamari, aur raat ke chand sitare bhi hamare.” (‘Roads are ours, streets too; night is ours, its moons and stars too’).
On August 11, its starts at 10pm. The starting point is the bus stop near Rose Garden on Madhya Marg, and it will end at Government College of Art in Sector 10 after covering what is known as ‘Geri Route’, in Sector 8, 9, 10 and 11.
