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Student protests have intensified across New Delhi following a series of alleged sexual assaults involving teenage girls, with activists accusing authorities of failing to adequately protect women and girls.
The latest reported case involves a 17-year-old girl who was allegedly gang-raped in Astha Kunj Park in southeast Delhi by three men who posed as police officers.
The incident came weeks after the decomposed body of a 16-year-old girl was found in a field following an alleged gang rape. Police have alleged that the girl was raped, stabbed to death and her body dumped in the area, where it was later partly eaten by dogs.
Two other cases involving girls aged six and 11 were reported in September. In another case, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a bus driver and conductor after they offered her a lift during heavy rain.
The incidents have fuelled a student-led protest movement in the Indian capital, with demonstrators accusing the authorities of failing to address persistent sexual violence against women.
Activists say harassment has also become widespread in everyday life, including on university campuses and public transport.
“The situation in India is a pandemic for women,” Harshita Sharma, a 20-year-old philosophy student at the University of Delhi, told The Telegraph. She called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resign, accusing his government of remaining silent over cases involving women.
Sharma, who helped organise a protest in New Delhi, said young people were increasingly willing to speak out and demand change.
She cited an incident at Delhi University’s Shyama Prasad Mukherji College for Women where, she said, men had exposed themselves to women. Sharma said she had personally experienced such harassment and that her complaint to police had not resulted in action.
“I don’t know any woman who has not faced some kind of harassment,” she said, adding that women did not feel safe in workplaces, metros, buses, schools or even their homes.
The protests have also been influenced by the wider “cockroach movement”, a student-led campaign that emerged earlier this year around education and youth issues. The movement gained national attention after protests contributed to the resignation of a government minister who had described unemployed young people as “cockroaches.”
Student activists say the latest demonstrations reflect growing frustration among younger Indians over sexual violence and the government’s response to it.
The protests come amid wider public debate in India over crimes against women and the effectiveness of law enforcement and government measures to prevent sexual violence.
