About 30 women from various organisations took part in a candlelight rally from the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road to 
Y-Road (Esplanade) on Tuesday evening to protest the rape of a 74-year-old nun at the Convent of Jesus and Mary High School in Ranaghat. ‘We cannot be passive observers to all the wrong that is happening in our society.... We demand a speedy investigation and trial and the severest of punishment for the culprits,’ said Sadaf Tazeen, of the All Bengal Muslim Women’s Association. Sharifa Khatoon, who came from Baguiati, said: ‘It is not about the rape alone. There is social degeneration. My 26-year-old daughter often has to endure teasing on public transport.’
Traffic in central Calcutta may be disrupted on Wednesday because of rallies to protest the Ranaghat rape.

• The BJP Mahila Morcha will hold a meeting on Y-Road at 1pm and then march towards Nabanna.

• The State Forum of Minorities Organisation will organise a rally at the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road from 3pm.

• Several groups will march from College Square to Missionary Church on Lenin Sarani, from 3pm.

Amit Datta