FREMONT: A horrific event on December 16 jolted every Indian across the globe. Young girl ‘Damini’s rape and heinous murder shook everyone to the core. The whole India and the world was stirred and protests were held to call for action against such crimes. Indian culture prides itself in its respect for women and worships women in the form of goddesses. There should be no room for such crimes against women in our society.
A large vigil was held at Fremont Hindu Temple to pay respect for the Delhi rape victim. Over two thousand people turned up to show their solidarity with the cause. Many local political and community leaders including Mayor Bill Harrison, Dr. Romesh Japra, Ro Khanna, Kansen Chu, Jan Giovanni-Hill, Deepak Chhabra, Rajesh Verma, Lilly Mei, Amrit Chug and others addressed the event in support.
Dr. Japra, Convener of FIA and founder Hindu Temple said that time had come to build a strong resolve towards crimes against women. We must not let ‘Damini’s sacrifice go waste. Community across all sections of people in Bay Area including Indian, Chinese, and Caucasians are together here to emphasize the need to come up with quick and severe punishment for such crimes.
He stressed that the punishment should be swift and include chemical castration, which would act as a strong deterrent. There should be separate courts to quickly try against such crimes. People today think that because of their connections or money power, they can do anything against women and get away without fear of punishment. This results in a trend where people lose the respect for women that was so strongly ingrained in Indian society. Time has come to break this chain and deal strongly with violence against women.
Society needs to stand together to bring about the revolution to make this happen.
Fremont Mayor Bill Harrison showed support with the community and urged people to show strong reaction to the event that happened thousands of miles away. He urged people to pledge to work towards ensuring that such an event does not ever recur anywhere in the world.
Dave Bonaccorsi, Fremont Planning Commissioner said that Fremont is a culturally diverse city. When an incident like this happens, it affects everyone as we are all very connected here. We must strongly condemn any crime against women. Thousands of people have gathered here at short notice to show their support for the cause. This shows the strength of community.
Yogi Chugh, Fremont Planning Commissioner and 26 year Fremont resident said that we need to reflect on the death of an innocent braveheart, a victim of a dastardly crime resulting in her losing her life. We stand in solidarity with her, her family and a nation that is mourning her loss. We need to highlight that rape is part of a larger, systemic problem of violence against women and it must never be accepted, never excused and never tolerated anywhere in the world. And we need to reflect on the question many are asking – what will people do to tackle deeply entrenched prejudice and misogyny that leads to such heinous incidents?”
Dharminder Dewan, Fremont Human Resource Commissioner said that the candlelight vigil is to ensure that we enlighten our behavior, actions, thoughts and attitude towards women and realize that any act of violence, ill-treatment, abuse or insult should not be tolerated against women and we have to treat them with respect, dignity and make them feel safe. Let’s all join hands in ensuring that we start a new era from here – where no woman has to go thru such barbaric acts again and start feeling that “This world has become a better place to live in”.
The event was widely publicized and covered by major media including KTVU, NBC, ABC, India Post, TV Asia, India Abroad and Ind TV.
Everyone in the gathering lit a candle in ‘Damini’s honor and showed their support for the cause.
Ritu Maheshwari
India Post News Service
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