SOUTH ASIAN LAW STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
<Contributor>
On December 16, Jyoti Singh Pandey and a friend boarded a bus in Delhi. They were told it would take them in the direction they needed to get home. Instead, Jyoti was brutally raped multiple times by 6 men. The attack left her with major organ damage, injuries that would later claim her life. Jyoti was 23 years old. The event has sparked large protests in India and attracted considerable media attention.
On January 16th, one month since the rape, the South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA) organized a solidartity event in Osgoode’s foyer to honour Jyoti (also known as “Damini,” “Amanat,” and “Nirbhaya” before her family agreed release her name), to remember other victims and survivors of gender based violence, and to remind the Osgoode community of the resol¬¬¬ve and determination required to confront violence against women both here and abroad. At the event, the Osgoode community was asked to think about attitudes and systems that lead to gender-based violence and rape culture, and to resist – in whatever ways each of us can – indifference and inaction towards them.
Sukhpreet Sangha performed a monologue on the short skirt, a rallying point for many Indian women during the protests that followed the attack, and Professor Mosher spoke of connections between gender-based violence in Canada and India.
The event concluded with a walk to the bus stop at Pond and Sentinel, where a moment of silence was observed. A bus stop is where Jyoti’s ordeal in Delhi began and, more broadly, is a space where many incidents of gender based violence occur, including in Canada, Toronto, and even here at York.