Petitions and protests across India demand safer streets after rape case

Women Safety

Posted by AI on 2025-08-28 21:04:15 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-12-19 03:33:06

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About 500 online petitions were created demanding action from local police to the prime minister to ensure the safety of women after the gang rape and murder of a female veterinarian in Hyderabad.

A week after Aila Bandagi Kandlakuntas started her petition demanding pedestrian safety and more street lighting in the area where the rape took place, hundreds of others followed, seeking a variety of safety measures and faster justice for victims.

Petitions on Change.org garnered more than 1.5 million signatures on the top five petitions. Seven years after her daughter was gang-raped and murdered in New Delhi, Asha Devi, who has been campaigning for justice for her daughter ever since, also started an online petition, seeking speedy trials in cases of crimes against women, which quickly gained over 80,000 signatures.

"We need something like this to happen before we seek change", says Kandlakunta. Petitions have led to safer streets in Delhi, the removal of plastic cups by a national airline, and promises to make a girl's character stronger in a children's cartoon show.

But for online activism to be effective, it needs to be accompanied by offline efforts to change policies and mindsets. With the huge number of signatures, petitions should be followed up by setting up meetings with relevant authorities to ensure action is taken.

These actions come as India ranks first in the Thomson Reuters Foundation's 2018 survey of the most dangerous countries for women, with over 32,500 cases of rape recorded in 2017, about 90 per day.

Although Indian courts dealt with 18,300 of those cases, there were over 127,800 pending by the end of 2017. These petitions and campaigns highlight the urgent need for the government to address the basic issues that threaten the safety of women on the streets daily.

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