Freeze there, if you care
It’s freezing cold in Delhi but the causarati has decided to battle the wintry foe and gather for the biggest freeze mob in India to raise awareness about the acid attacks against women.
The brainchild of Students Against Acid Attack, an online youth collective, the mob will take place tomorrow at Connaught Place at 4 pm, when students wearing black sunglasses (to symbolise the permanent blindness that acid attack causes) and yellow armbands on left arm (depicting fire which burns the hearts and minds of the girls after an acid attack) will freeze for 15 minutes.
Social and environmental activist Tamanna Sharma says, “The idea is to symbolically show how the life of a victim freezes after the act. We want to tell people an acid attack is as bad as rape. We are also demanding more stringent provisions in the law to deal with these incidents. Two years back the cabinet had proposed to make acid attack a separate offence inviting a jail term of 10 years and `10 lakh as compensation. However, this proposal awaits Parliament’s nod.”
It all started with the tragic story of Sonali Mukherjee, who after denying the sexual advances of three students nine years ago, was attacked and had acid thrown on her face by them. As several such cases were reported after it, the collective decided to take up the cause.
Around 500 people are expected to be a part of the mob. They even had a trial run yesterday. Since the cops are all over, in the wake of the gang rape incident as well as the ongoing preparations for the Republic Day, are they prepared in case they are denied permission?
“We are not planning any rally, march or shouting slogans, so it is going to be a silent mob. There will be placards and montages to convey the message. We have informed the Delhi Police and they are fine with it. The whole idea is to raise awareness and not to cause chaos,” says organiser Sakshi Kumar.
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