Citizens take to streets in white outfits to decry nun gang rape

TNN

Mumbai, 22 Mar 2015: For the first time in the city’s history, the head of the Catholic Church led a morcha through the streets to express anger with the establishment. Oswald Cardinal Gracias was at the head of a 1,000-strong assembly that walked along Colaba Causeway on Saturday evening to protest the gang rape of a nun near Kolkata.

 

He began by calling for a minute of silence. Then he said, "I feel sad, embarrassed, ashamed and angry. Far too many such incidents are being reported, many more than should happen. I can hardly believe that in 2015 our society is showing such disrespect for women. This has to stop. We are not living in the Dark Ages. Condemnation is necessary but not enough. We need to arrest the culprits responsible for attacking a nun. We must show the will to change."

 

The march was organised by the ex-students of the Convent of Jesus and Mary. Wearing white outfits and black armbands, they walked with banners that read ’Teach your sons to respect women’. Organisers Rachna Narwekar and Anisha Mistry said the nuns encouraged respect for all faiths and taught them moral values.

 

Sr Arina Gonsalves, principal and superior of Fort Convent, said, "I am educating girls in my school but we need to educate boys in society. Men blame rapes on scantily-clad women or those who are out at night. How do they explain that a 71-year-old nun was attacked within the four walls of a convent? By what yardstick could she seem provocative?"

 

Writer Anil Dharker busted more stereotypes. "We hear of three-year-old children being molested. In fact, even women like West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee denigrate women."

 

Participants joined a signature campaign appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring the culprits to book and ensure safety of women and minorities.

 

Meanwhile, Bishop of Pune Thomas Dabre criticized the attacks on Christians across the country, including the rape of a 75-year-old nun in Kolkata. "Fundamentalist elements feel they can do anything against minorities, especially Christians, under the rule of PM Narendra Modi," he said.