Bollywood celebrities, along with thousands of Mumbai residents, gathered on Sunday for a peaceful protest against the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, and the rape of a teenage girl in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh.
Rajkummar Rao, Patralekha, Sameera Reddy, Twinkle Khanna along with her son Arav and husband Akshay Kumar, actress Tara Sharma, music director Vishal Dadlani, singer and social activist Sona Mohapatra, filmmaker Kiran Rao, Aditi Rao Hydari, veteran actress Helen were among those who took to the streets of Bandra to protest against the incidents and seek justice.
They were holding placards and posters that read #justiceforasifa.
Some young girls were also present at the gathering holding posters that read: “This is not just rape, this is genocide with state support.”
“Before having a Swachh Bharat [clean India], we want a safe Bharat,” read the placard of a young burkha-clad girl.
Dadlani said: “We want to stop this nonsense now... we want action and we want it now. Once the man is accused and guilty of raping and killing a baby girl, he should be hanged then and [there].”
“Our gathering shows that we as a community stand for the cause; there is a helplessness that we all feel and therefore we are standing here. We want justice,” said Mohapatra.
Several actresses such as Kareena Kapoor Khan, Swara Bhaskar, Sonam Kapoor, Shruti Seth and Mini Mathur also held placards asking for justice for the eight-year-old girl.
