Twenty-eight men and children dived in icy cold water in Meghalaya at midnight in memory of the Delhi gangrape victim as India ushered in New Year with subdued revelry which was marred by molestation of a woman in Mumbai and rape of a minor girl in Bengaluru.
The New Year’s Eve celebrations in the backdrop of the death of the 23-year-old physiotherapy student also turned tragic when five revellers were killed when their car collided with a lorry in Kerala and a software engineer allegedly stabbed to his death in Bengaluru by his friends during a drunken brawl.
In the national capital, Delhiites rung in 2013 with new hopes and aspirations but in a subdued tone as the city remained overwhelmed with shock over the death of the girl brutally gangraped in a moving bus a fortnight ago.
Connaught Place, the traditional hotspot for New Year festivities wore almost a deserted look at midnight as a small crowd turned up to celebrate with policemen outnumbering the revellers.
“We take this dip to express our resolve to fight till death for the dignity of women. We felt numbed over the death of the girl and the beastly attack on board a bus. This is our protest,” convenor of Mait Shaphrang Movement, an anti-graft movement, Michael Syiem said in Shillong. “A dive into a pool under sub-zero temperature is a pointer that if we overcome extremely trying physical circumstances just after stepping into the new year, we are equally tough to face any oddity in the 365 days and protect our mothers, sisters and daughters,” Mr Syiem said. While the pool temperature itself was at sub-zero level, another 40 blocks of ice slabs were added to raise the endurance limit.