Women walked on the streets of Kerala in a hundred different locations on Sunday night as part of the ‘Night walk for women’ organised by State Women and Child Development department. It was the seventh death anniversary of Nirbhaya, the victim of the Delhi rape tragedy who fought for her life for 13 days before dying on December 29.
The walk was held from 11 pm to 2 am on Monday, culminating in some cultural programmes that the women attended. It was conducted in 22 centres across the state and the Manaveeyam Veedi in Thiruvananthapuram was the main centre, wrote Minister for Women and Child Development KK Shailaja on Facebook.
Prominent faces were seen among the scores of women who took part in the night walk meant to reclaim public spaces for women. Chalachitra Academy vice chairperson and film editor Bina Paul, Women and Child Development director TV Anupama, dubbing artiste Bhagyalakshmy, IAS office Divya S Iyer, writer CS Chandrika, planning board member Mridul Eapen, filmmaker Vidhu Vincent and others took part in the event.
Some women brought along their children too. Police and shadow police ensured the safety of the women. There were also volunteers deployed to help the participants and a medical team was also at hand.
The night walk was announced by Minister KK Shailaja on Thursday, as part of 'Sadhairyam Munnottu' (Go ahead bravely), a scheme envisaged by the department for women empowerment programmes. The core idea is to reclaim public spaces that remain largely inaccessible for women with the underlying message that these spaces belong to all, irrespective of gender.
Following the first walk on December 29, several volunteers will conduct night walks in different parts of the state in the coming days, to identify harassers and inform the police. A ‘crime map’ will also be created with the help of Janamaithri police. The night walks will continue till March 8 – International Women’s Day.