Protest at Jantar Mantar; India Gate remains out of bounds

New Delhi: A small group of people gathered at Jantar Mantar Tuesday demanding stringent punishment to those involved in the gangrape of a young girl even as India Gate remained out of bounds for demonstrations. The protest on Christmas day was much thinner than that of previous days.

Although the protest was scheduled to start from 8 AM, it began only after 9.30 AM. A handful of protesters shouting slogans like `We want Justice` demanded severe punishment to those arrested on charges of raping the 23-year-old para-medical student from Dehradun on the night of December 16 in a moving bus here. "Today the crowd is much less than that of yesterday. It is not more than 200 people. It has been peaceful till one PM," said a police official posted in the area. University and college students gathered at Jantar Mantar and shouted slogans against the police action on the protestors on Sunday. The protestors were much toned down as the news of the death of a police constable injured in Sunday`s India gate clash reached the area. The national capital continued to wear a look of a heavily fortified fortress with large deployments of police across central Delhi. Roads leading to India Gate and Raisina Hills were blocked to ensure that no protests took place there. With the crowd of the protestors getting thinner with every passing day, a small group of youths suggested asking people to spare a day in a year to gather at Jantar Mantar to protest against rape and molestation incidents. "To be honest the nobody has time to spend day after day protesting against rape. So we have come up with an idea where we will take phone numbers from people who are willing to protest and arrange a day when they will be available for protests," said Punit, one of the protesters. Both the protestors and the police shared a lighter moment after a monkey entered the area and started jumping on the shoulders of the some of the agitators and police officials. PTI