At the stroke of midnight, as the country prepared to celebrate its 79th Independence Day, a unified voice raised a cry for justice in several pockets of Calcutta.

Outside the Academy of Fine Arts, a theatre group performed a skit that asserted a woman’s right to reclaim her space and her right to her body.

At Jadavpur 8b bus stand, flaming torches were raised amid slogans for justice.

At many other places, the cry was for a just society that does not subjugate women or take away their rights. Protest songs were sung and posters were written.

It is not only about reclaiming one night, but numerous nights, said women who were out on the streets to Reclaim the Night.

“Reclaim the Night is not an annual event when women come out in large numbers to assert their existence and claim their space. It is about reclaiming her rights on all the nights when she can move fearlessly,” said Sujana Biswas, a teacher in her 40s who was at the Academy of Fine Arts.

The trigger for reclaim the night was the rape and murder of a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, 2024.

Compared to last year, the streets were quieter in 2025, but those who came had resolve in their voice.

Indudipa Sinha, a doctor and an alumna of RG Kar, said “the bias is all-pervasive”.

“RG Kar was the trigger. But we are fighting the bias that women face everywhere, every day,” she said.

Social worker Urmi Basu, who works with girls and women from marginalised communities, said she feels “girls are still at risk”.

“We feel anxious when a student is late returning from her institution or workplace,” said Basu. “How can we tell our girls to go out, and that the world is their stage? They are constantly being pushed backstage and forced to become invisible,” she said. Basu was at Jadavpur.

It is that fear that made Mitun Das, 35, and Swapannita Neogi join the protest at Jadavpur with their one-year-six-month-old daughter.

“We participated last year, hoping for a change. But after a year, we came back again because the safety of women is still compromised. We are raising a daughter, and is it too much to ask for a safe space for her?” said Das.

The sea of people from last year was missing, but there were many like Sutanuka Giri, 50, and her 18-year-old daughter, who came from Garfa to Jadavpur. “Such protests cannot be conducted in isolation,” said Sutanuka.