New Delhi:
Delhi will next month host the country's first 'Slut Walk' - renamed 'Besharmi Morcha' for India - to protest sexual violence against women who are victimised on the pretext of dressing up provocatively and thus "asking for it".
Slut Walks have become a global phenomenon to protest against sexual violence after a police officer in Toronto this year caused outrage by stating during a speech to university students that women should avoid "dressing like sluts" in order not to be victimised.
The Walk here will, however, be a toned down version of the other walks elsewhere which have seen women dress in skimpy clothing to challenge the mind-set that victims of sexual violence should be blamed for the assault on them.
"Not all people in Delhi will understand the meaning of 'slut'. So after a lot of debate and discussion, we decided on 'Besharmi Morcha' (shameless protest)," said Umang Sabarwal, one of the chief organisers of the walk.
The Facebook page of the Walk, which will take place by July-end, has attracted a lot of attention with over 1,000 pledging support.
"Slut Walk 2011 is an attempt to reclaim the word slut, to remove the shame and replace it with pride! Women aren't sluts just because we exercise the choice to be our own persons," the Facebook page says.
"It doesn't make anyone a slut to wear what he or she wants to, to date endless men or women, to wear high heels or low-cut clothes," it adds.
"In a city where girls are molested in broad daylight, on the footpath, in buses and on the Metro, the purpose of the Slut Walk is to bring to the attention of the society that the problem is not what we do, but what is done to us," it further says.