Mangalore: Thousands of students from colleges across the city on Tuesday July 22 gathered in front the deputy commissioner’s office here and staged a protest against the recent crimes against women and children in the state and lambasted the government for not taking adequate action against the culprits.
The protests were led first by Tulunada Rakshana Vedike, and then by ABVP who joined them after a protest rally from Dr Ambedkar circle to DC’s office.
President of Tulunada Rakshana Vedike Yogish Shetty, Jeppu said, “We should understand the pain of women who become victims of sexual assaults. There were days when we used to say rapes happened only in states like Orissa, Bihar and Rajasthan due to lack of education. But today rapes arehappening in an educated state like Karnataka. Even children are not being spared. Dress code is not an issue. We need to change our perspective about women.
“Rapes have become a habitual occurrence in society. Strict laws should be enforced and stringent punishment should be meted out to culprits. It is the duty of people’s representatives and of every citizen to do their best to curb crimes. Even we cannot lead the nation on this, we can at least show the way to our town or be examples in our own homes,” he advised.
“The government should also hold awareness programmes. The entire system should change. Schools should also hold awareness programmes and regular parent-teachers meetings. Our struggle will continue till stringent action is taken against culprits,” he added.
M G Hegde, Shivakumar, Dinakar Shetty of All College Students Union, Ramesh – state secretary of ABVP, Shyam Bhat, Akshata, Rakshita, Yathish, Anushka and several others spoke and opined on the issue.
More than 2,000 students took part in the protest. The ABVP submitted a memorandum to the DC at the end of the protest.
