The entire country is fighting for justice for Asifa and Bollywood celebrities are not taking a back seat in speaking out about the injustice. From when the news broke, many of them have taken to social media to express their anguish and disgust over the incident, demanding justice for the little girl.
The situation worsened when no action was taken against a politician who was accused of rape in Unnao. Citizens and celebrities alike started expressing their concern and questioned the safety of girls in India through a social media movement called #JusticeForOurChild. Stars like Sonam Kapoor, Richa Chadha, Swara Bhasker, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Radhika Apte, Patralekaa Mishra Paul, Gul Panag, Namish Taneja, Shruti Seth, Kalki Koechlin and many more have put up photos of themselves holding a poster asking for action to be taken. The pictures also have a message reading “I am Hindustan. I am Ashamed. 8 years old. Gangraped. Murdered. In ‘Devi’-sthaan temple. #Kathua”
Take a look.
I am Hindustan. I am Ashamed. #JusticeForOurChild
8 years old. Gangraped. Murdered.
In ‘Devi’-sthaan temple. #Kathua pic.twitter.com/pzC8bVaAY4— Gul Panag (@GulPanag) April 13, 2018
— Kalki केकला (@kalkikanmani) April 13, 2018
Yesterday many of them decided to take the movement from social media to the streets, calling out to everyone who’d listen to bring about a change in mindset. Rajkumar Rao, Twinkle Khanna, Kalki Koechlin and many others joined the protest at Carter road in Mumbai holding placards that read ‘Don’t let this movement fade away’.
Twinkle Khanna
Patralekhaa Mishra Paul and RajKumar Rao
Kalki Koechlin
Helen
Vishal Dadlani
Aditi Rao Hydari
Yesteryear’s superstar Helen who was present at the protest spoke to the media about the situation.
“I’m ashamed, I’m sad. I have no words to tell you… It’s horrifying. What will be the punishment? “After a few days, they will make you forget about it. What can we do? The higher authorities should come forward.”
Priyanka Chopra, who is currently in Ireland, tweeted out an invite to the protest requesting people to attend it.
Here’s the tweet.
If you can make it, please do. We all agree that armchair activism isn’t enough… There is strength in numbers and in unity… #Unnao #Kathua #JusticeForAsifa pic.twitter.com/SYpUhPqPuH
— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) April 14, 2018
Celebrities like Aditi Rao Hydari, Patralekhaa, Sameera Reddy, Sona Mohapatra, Anushka Manchanda and Vishal Dadlani were also present and spoke about the heinous crime and demanded justice.
Vishal believes rapists should be given harsh punishments and said it was extremely sad that some people can actually support such an act. He even took to Instagram to share pictures from the protest yesterday.
At the protest, he openly told the media about what he thought.
“Those who tried to save the rapists in both the cases, they come from the same thought process. We need to understand, India doesn’t belong to these people, it’s ours. We need to wake up and save India right now”
Aditi also spoke out at the protest,
“Till we do something, change won’t happen.” “We need to understand the problem and make sure we tackle it, because no one is doing that so we will have to do it”
She was also seen holding a placard with a message ‘Politicians/Police/Court help citizens, not rapists’
We seriously hope this is a movement that will finally show results in terms of strong punishments for the perpetrators and justice for Asifa.
Let’s make our country a safe place for human beings, let alone little girls or boys.