In Punjab, a call for women's liberation

BARNALA: The 23rd death anniversary of teenage school girl from Mehal Kalan, who was killed after gang rape , was observed as Aurat Mukti Divas (women liberation day).

Instead of a single mega event at Mehal Kalan, over 100 small programmes were held simultaneously at various places in Barnala, Mansa, Bathinda and Ludhiana districts on Wednesday where participants raised voice about crimes against women.

In view of Covid-19 restrictions, the Kiranjit Katal Kand Virodhi Action Committee had decided against holding a big congregation like previous years.

Kiranjit Kaur, then 17, studying in Class XII, was abducted on July 29, 1997 and her body, buried in the ground, was recovered on August 11. Her cremation, a day later, had attracted thousands of persons. The action committee formed to seek justice had been organising massive programme on August 12 for the last 22 years.

Apart from Mehal Kalan, programmes to remember the teenage girl and renew the pledge to work for the safety and dignity of women were held in Barnala town and about two dozen villages of the district.

Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR) held the commemoration programme at Mansa whereas smaller programmes were held at Ranghrial, Burj Rathi, Khiala Kalan villages in Mansa. In Ludhiana district, programmes were held at Galab Kalan, Bhamal, Swaddi Khurd, Malsian, Kamalpura, Binjal, Mullanpur, Hathoor , Deharka and Dhudkot villages. Tributes were paid to teenage girl by farm organisations at Gehri Buttar village in Bathinda.

Action committee former convener Narain Dutt said the killing of the teenage girl after rape has given a new direction to the area in its various struggles for self-esteem.

“The ghastly killing of the girl makes us stand up wherever any highhandedness is committed against girls. We want the slogan of women empowerment to become a reality. For that, we want to keep reminding people not to indulge in any highhandedness,” he said. “The action committee also held a virtual campaign on the social media for 11 days where two personalities spoke about crimes against women for an hour and hundreds of persons listened to that,” he said.

Committee member Manjit Dhaner said as the crime against women are on the rise, the responsibility of activists has increased to work more vigorously.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)