‘Rape Free India’ campaign kick starts in London

LONDON: A group of Indian female activists has started a campaign at London’s underground tube stations to highlight the cases of rape against women and children in their country, demanding action from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The adverts against rape in India have appeared on three London underground stations saying “Indian in [the] UK stands in solidarity with rape victims”. In a statement to the Geo.tv, Rape Free Indian campaigners said: “We are a group of ordinary women, mothers who have got together for this cause. We will be happy to get some input from other like-minded people who want to do something to promote the cause and see what we can do together!”

The Rape Free India is the brainchild of professional Indian women in London who have come together through social media sites to share their pain of rising cases of rape in India and the inability and unwillingness of the authorities to take action against the perpetrators of sexual crimes against women, children, and minors.

The adverts have been displayed at Chalk Farm, Regent’s Park and Kennington tube stations for one month. The organisers, on their website, said that they crowd-funded to raise money for the campaign. Interestingly, the campaigners said they have never met in real life but found out about each other through Facebook and then decided to come together for the cause.

They have set up a website which encourages readers to put a digital ribbon with “Rape Free India” in red letters as their profile picture from November 22 to mark White Ribbon Day on 25 November — a day of campaigning for an end to violence against women.

The organisers have said they were disturbed by the rising number of recent rape cases in India such as a six-year-old gang-raped and killed in Kanpur — the story that shocked the world. “Our final aim is to do work in India to see it doesn’t continue to happen and make sure the next generation is better educated,” they said.

Since the posters went up, the organisers of the campaign have been trolled on social media as anti-national and traitors who are bringing a bad name to India, meanwhile, the women said that they deliberately chose London to get international attention.