Walking tall in unsafe Delhi

Find out what the young organisers of the much touted Slut Walk think about issues that affect them and the rest of the city

"You can't travel alone at 2 am and then say Delhi is not safe," said Delhi's top cop BK Gupta. It is hardly surprising that a city, where the police chief issues such statements, is infamous as the Rape Capital of India.u00a0u00a0

Miles to go: Membersu00a0 of 'Slut Walk arthat Besharmi Morcha'

But not everyone is accepting things the way they are now.Trishla Singh, Umang Sabarwal, Mishika Singh, Vibhuti Varma, Aakanksha Rawat, Plaksha Prakash, Nipun Saxena, Ankit Dubey and Nanak Bhatia are some of the young Delhiites trying to shift perception about the city.


Organise debate and steet plays against violation of women's rights at
Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Pics/Rajeev Tyagi

Young and restless
This bunch of youngsters is a part of the Organising Committee of the team that is holding Slut Walk in Delhi, renamed 'Slut Walk Delhi arthaat Besharmi Morcha'. The movement has been initiated to address the issue of unequal, unfair and stereotyped treatment of women in society and how the treatment further manifests into different forms of sexual violation.

With that intention in mind, they are organising open forums every Sunday and street plays every day across the National Capital Region till July 24. The group, along with some volunteers, met at Jantar Mantar Road on Sunday for an open forum. The turnout wasn't great but that hasn't disappointed the organisers. "We will continue despite the turnout. It won't be discouraging," said Trishla Singh of Kamla Nehru College.

"The walk is a symbolic thing. The date hasn't been decided yet. We got late working on logistical issues to file for police permission," said Umang Sabarwal from the same college.u00a0 So, if raising awareness is of prime importance of the movement, what was the reason to organise a walk per se? "We wanted it to reach outside Facebook," said Umang. The organisers also want to send out a message: "We are not promoting obscenity," said Umang, "We have told people to come wearing whatever they would wear otherwise."

While they are looking to change society's perception towards women, some women cops posted at the venue said: "It is all about your confidence level. Women who go out less and interact less are the ones who face harassment."u00a0 They have a point, too.

Be informed
For those randomly joining Facebook fan pages, the group has only one page: Slut Walk Delhi 2011. "There are numerous spam pages on Facebook. People have created their own event pages, claiming to be organisers," said Mishika.