A 22 year old woman, Mita Das, hailing from Sukantapally, was found hanging from the ceiling of her house in Uluberia (in Howrah District of West Bengal) on 11 October. She had been married for six months. The post mortem report revealed marks on her body indicative of physical fight. Her family have accused her in laws and husband of subjecting her to consistent domestic violence. In a report released in 2015, West Bengal was found to top the list in cases of domestic violence. Voicing resistance against the increasing spate of such incidents, AISA and students of Jadavpur University, of which Mita was an alumni gave a call for observing protest day on 17 October. A large number of students-youth participated in these protests demanding justice for Mita and strong laws against all forms of domestic violence. Students holding placards and shouting slogans took out a massive rally from the Jadavpur to Dhakuria flyover. The students gathered there also raised slogans demanding justice for other victims like Payel of Kirshnanagar who was burnt to death after dowry demands, Nazia, a victim of dowry related torture and Nabamita Biswas who was found hanging from the window of her bathroom. She left a note behind holding responsible her husband for the suicide. The placards carried the slogans- ‘Justice for Payel’, ‘Justice for Nazia’, ‘Justice for Mita, ‘Fight Patriarchy from womb to the world’, ‘zero tolerance to domestic violence’ and with demands to criminalise marital rape. They said that protests against these incidents will continue till justice is ensured for the victims.
