Outpouring of rage: Protests turn violent as rights activists cry foul in India

One journalist shot dead in police action; a constable in critical condition as people mark protest against gang rape.

NEW DEHLI:

India came face to face with its political tipping point as protests in several cities, especially the capital, over the gang rape of a 23-year-old last week, turned into violent clashes with the police in the heart of New Delhi.

Especially worrying for the police was the fact that pitched battles – with authorities using batons and tear gas freely as protesters flung stones – were taking place in precisely the areas that the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, would visit just a few hours later.

Putin is on a short but important visit to India on Christmas eve.

According to The Times of India, several protesters — the number estimated at 50 — were injured in the police action. The report said: “A police constable was reportedly seriously injured in stoning and was battling for his life”.

An entirely spontaneous gathering of thousands of students, both girls and boys, took the police and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) by surprise as the victim of a gang rape lay struggling for life in hospital.

Rage, frustration and anger against the condition of public transport, the treatment of women and the delays in the system of justice spilled out in gatherings that occupied all the roads leading to the Presidential Palace, the Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament nearby.

Political groups tried to act as the interface between protesters and the government but leaders were booed away as the protests grew more chaotic in a complete vacuum of leadership or direction. The police turned more aggressive in its effort to protect public property as the day wore on. Towards the evening, damage to vehicles and violence took over as the movement was infiltrated by anti-social elements.



There was no connection between what the protesters seemed to want and what the government was offering.

A large number of people wanted the alleged rapists to be hanged, unmindful of whether they got a trial or not. Others said they were angry at patriarchy and the oppression of women generally all over the country.

In many ways, these protests mimic what New Delhi saw last year when social activists Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal occupied Ramleela Maidan seeking an end to corruption and cronyism through legislation.

With a series of provincial elections due later in 2013 (including New Delhi) followed by general elections in 2014, the government is beside itself.

TV cameraman shot dead by police

Police shot dead a journalist during the protests. A police spokesman said that the 36-year-old cameraman, who was working for the national Doordarshan network, was “killed in police firing” while covering a protest that turned violent in the town of Imphal.

National crime records show that 228,650 of the total 256,329 violent crimes recorded last year were against women. Delhi has been dubbed the rape capital of India with government figures showing the number of rapes in the city rising 17% to 661 this year.

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2012.