Protest meeting seeking justice for Kathua, Unnao victims sees demands for sex offender registry, death penalty for rapists

Less than a year after the Not In My Name protests, Carter Road in Bandra, Mumbai, witnessed another meeting — this time seeking justice for the victims in the Unnao and Kathua rape cases. A crowd numbering in the hundreds thronged the Carter Road promenade and amphitheatre on Sunday, 15 April 2018, for what was called an ‘officially apolitical’ people’s protest. The organisers did not have permission to raise slogans, so the protest was a largely silent one, despite the large number of people in attendance. In the absence of slogans, the protesters’ placards served as rallying cries. There were groups holding up banners that asked for the creation of a registry of sex offenders. A smaller group protested this very move. Meanwhile, other individuals held up messages asking for the death penalty for all those found guilty of rape — including the juvenile charged in the Kathua case. This last group saw its numbers swell towards the end of the protest, when several people (mostly men) pulled up in cars and bikes on the road alongside the amphitheatre and began demanding capital punishment for all convicted rapists. The organisers had only received permission to hold an hour-long event, and people had to disperse just as the protest was gathering steam. As the crowd began to scatter, there were sudden loud chants, asking for azaadi. By then, the police were on the scene, hustling away any stragglers who were of a mind to remain. The sun went down, and so did the banners. What remained were a few stray images:

— All photos by Shubhra Dixit/Firstpost