“Let her see whether a mass protest can set things right.

Let her become aware of her rights”.

'When do we get our independence? How long do we have to wait to work without fear? Another 50 years?” asked a student.

Sanchari Mukherjee, editor of a digital magazine, said she marched with thousands of others from a bus terminus in Jadavpur, undeterred by the rain.

“One family brought their little girl along, perhaps so the memory of this event would be etched in her mind—how her parents stood up against injustice, and how she, too, can protest one day.

” Ms.

Mukherjee said the entire city seemed awake as the marchers passed by illuminated homes, with people peering out of windows and crowding verandahs to watch.

“‘We want justice’ had become the anthem of the march, and it didn’t feel like just a slogan,” Ms.

Mukherjee said.

“It felt like every young woman was deeply hurt and determined, frustrated that they still face these issues in 2024.

” Ms.

Mukherjee added that she had to walk a few miles to join the march because the streets were gridlocked late at night.

“I was instantly swept up in a sea of people heading to the protest site.

There was no excitement, just a stoic determination to create an event which would become a symbol for the times to come.

”The protests have been fueled by anger over local authorities’ handling of the young trainee doctor’s rape and murder.

Police later arrested a hospital volunteer worker in connection with what they said was a case of rape and murder.

But there have been accusations of cover-up and negligence.

The case has since been transferred from local police to the federal Central Bureau of Investigation.

Despite scant resources, Kolkata’s 'Reclaim the Night' march appeared to have been meticulously organized.

In an advisory, organizers welcomed women and people from marginalized sexual and gender identities to the march.

They also emphasized that politicians were not welcome and requested that no party flags be brought to the protest.

Inspired by similar marches elsewhere in the world by women to assert their rights to walk in public areas without fear, a march was held in 1978 in Bombay (now Mumbai) in protest against the rape of a woman on the street.

Blank Noise, a community-based art project and activist collective, has organized several midnight walks in Delhi to encourage women to assert their right to walk freely at night.

But in terms of scale, the Kolkata march, echoed by smaller ones across other cities, stands as the largest yet.

“We seized the night.

We've never seen anything like this in the city.

This is unprecedented.

I hope it wakes up the authorities,” said Chaitali Sen, a protester.