Two “advisers” of the group that has called for the second edition of Reclaim the Night on Sunday against the RG Kar rape-murder horror dissociated themselves on Saturday from those organising the protest, while two others said they had just shared some inputs as individuals and concerned citizens.
The organisers of the protest had on Friday said their mentors/advisers include feminist scholar Nivedita Menon, Supreme Court lawyer Vrinda Grover, actor-director Aparna Sen, economist Jean Drèze, Calcutta High Court lawyer Partha Sarathi Sengupta and historian Dipesh Chakrabarty.
“We were not informed that we would be named as part of a formal advisory committee,” Menon told The Telegraph Online on Saturday.
She stressed that while the organisers had indeed sought her advice she had no knowledge of the other personalities that had been identified as advisers.
“The impression conveyed to me as well as Vrinda Grover was that the organisers would occasionally reach out to us when they draft a document with recommendations, etc,” Menon said.
“I requested the organisers to immediately issue a clarification that myself and Vrinda Grover are not members of any advisory board/ committee of Reclaim the Night initiative in West Bengal,” she added.
Economist Drèze emphasised that his involvement was limited.
“I’ve shared thoughts on durable measures for women’s freedom and safety,” Drèze replied in an email to The Telegraph Online. “As an outsider, I would not presume to understand the complexities of the agitations that are happening in Kolkata, I have shared some thoughts as I normally do.”
This was echoed by Aparna Sen.
“Rimjhim has been seeking my help on certain matters of the protest since the beginning. I have just helped her personally,” Sen told The Telegraph Online:
She said she stands in solidarity with the movement but was unaware of being listed as a formal adviser. “It must have been a miscommunication”, Sen added.
High court lawyer Partha Sarathi Sengupta said his role was limited to the courts. “I am aware of the changes they have proposed. There has to be a specific cause of action if I have to help them legally to get a proper remedy. But as long as it is a general cause of action, they have to go for a public interest litigation,” he told The Telegraph Online.
Reclaim the Night organiser Rimjhim Sinha clarified that they were not forming an official panel or committee yet. “Now we are simply reaching out to individuals who have positively impacted society, for their personal guidance,” she said.
Sumnima Tamang Saha, another member of the group, said: “Right now, we’re in the formative stage. We’ve received advice, but moving forward, we plan to pursue this [the movement for women’s safety] legally.”
Scheduled for the night of September 8, the protest, now called Notun Gaan-er Bhor (dawn of new songs), aims to blend art, music and activism to demand structural reforms for women's safety in Bengal.
“We want to reimagine how we express dissent,” one of the protest organisers, Anushna Das, told The Telegraph Online. “Songs, art, in fact any cultural medium can carry our message for change.”
Sunday’s protest is timed; it is the night before the Supreme Court’s next scheduled hearing in the RG Kar case and also exactly a month since the shocking crime happened on August 9.
