Women Safety: Anna Hazare Writes to PM Modi, Says Will Observe ‘Maun Vrat’ on December 20

The strike, the social activist wrote, would be to to seek speedy justice for Nirbhaya and also to force the government to take steps to curb incidents of crime against women in the country.

New Delhi: Social activist Anna Hazare on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that he will sit on a silent fast on December 20 to seek speedy justice for the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder victim. The fast, he wrote, would also be against the repeated incidents of heinous crimes against women in the country.

The social activist’s letter comes in the wake of a spate of cases of crime against women in recent days, including the Hyderabad gang-rape and murder case, as well as the Unnao case, in which a 23-year-old woman died after being set on fire by five men, including two who gang-raped her last year.

In his letter to the Prime Minister, Hazare wrote, “Seven years on, there Nirbhaya accused have not yet been hanged despite being convicted and sentenced to death. This is the reason people are welcoming the encounter.” This was in reference to the four accused in the aforementioned Hyderabad case being shot dead by the police in an encounter last Friday.

“The delay is not good for democracy and may lead to anarchy,” the renowned social activist further wrote.

The letter also pointed out that the last execution in a rape case in the country took place on August 14, 2005 in West Bengal.

“Hence, I will sit on maun vrat on December 20 at Ralegaon Siddhi to seek speedy justice for Nirbhaya and also to ensure no such incident takes place in the country again. However, I will fast indefinitely if the government does nothing to curb such incidents,” Hazare wrote in his letter to the Prime Minister.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal is already on an indefinite hunger strike, asking for speedy conviction and death penalty for convicts in cases of heinous crime against women.