Groups In Nine Indian Cities Will Protest Against Lynchings Today - Not In My Name

It would hardly be worth contesting that India is on a downward spiral, one that culminates with a violent lynch mob and the deterioration of democracy. Since 2015, India has witnessed multiple instances of so called mob-justice. It began with the murder of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri for supposedly storing beef and most recently includes the murder of Junaid Khan, a Muslim teenager returning on a train from Delhi after doing some Eid shopping in the city, last Thursday. He and his two brothers were brutally attacked over a dispute for seats, it escalated for no other reason than because they were Muslim, with the eventual outcome being another brutal, mindless death. And it seems India has finally had enough.

On Saturday, Gurgaon-based filmmaker Saba Dewan posted on Facebook calling for a protest at Delhi’s iconic Jantar Mantar. A movement to ‘take back the Constitution’ and ‘resist the onslaught,’ she decided to call the protest ‘Not In My Name’. For a country in the midst of outrage, this was the perfect catalyst, and protests have sprung up in at least nine other Indian cities, with similar events in Toronto and London.

Not merely an expression of grief, these citizens protests are a vociferous attempt to convince an unconcerned government that we will never accept this version of India. That the Indian public has remained voiceless for too long in the hope that justice will prevail, but that if need be, we are ready to stand and speak if justice chooses to remain silent. As Saba Dewan puts it , “We need to remind the state that they are duty-bound and allowing repeated such attacks is a violation of the Constituion.” We hope that many will answer the call and that this important issue isn’t lost in the constant stream of ambivalence that has become the bane of India’s youth.

Silence is compliticy. Don’t wait for such abhorrent acts to becomes statistics, normalised forever by our refusal to stand up against injustice. Find out where your city’s protest is and make your voice count. The government can never and should never be able to exhaust our morality.

Protests will be held across these locations today, June 28:

Delhi: 6 PM @ Jantar Mantar

Mumbai: 5 PM @ Carter Road

Kolkata: 5 PM @ Dakhinapan premises near Madhusudan Mancha

Bangalore: 6 PM @ Bangalore Town Hall

Kochi: 5 PM @ Ernakulam High Court junction

Patna: 6 PM @ Gandhi Maidan

Hyderabad: 4 PM @ Tank Bund

Thiruvananthapuram: 5:30 PM @ The Secretariat

Lucknow: 4:30 PM @ Hazratganj’s Gandhi Park

July 1

Chennai: 1 PM @ Valluvar Kottam in Nungambakkam.