Women belonging to different religious groups wore burqa and took part in a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday against what they claimed was “singling out of Muslim women” by police during recent protests against the citizenship law in the national capital.
The demonstration, titled ‘Azad women for Azadi’, saw the women coming together to express solidarity with the protesters.
Iqra Raza, a 20-year-old student of Delhi University, who organized the protest was quoted as saying,”I was near HRD during the Citizens’ march when a policeman yelled “in burqa walon ko pakdo”. He then punched me. I grabbed his jacket to ask why he hit me to which he said I do not need to answer. After that two policemen pushed and I collapsed in a daze. I was taken to RML Hospital. My question is, how can you target me by looking at my dress?”
Many students in Delhi said that this‘ Islamophobic ’behavior is being seen in demonstrations these days. The protesters were holding banners with messages like ‘We want rights, not riots’, ‘Crying culture claims new democracy’ while slogans against ‘Islamophobia’ and ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ rent the air.
Ishita Mandal, a student from Delhi University, wore hijab to express her solidarity and condemn what “they go through on a daily basis”.
