After the day-long rallies on Sunday, came the night-long vigil demanding justice for the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital a month ago, on August 9.

Tens of thousands of people occupied scores of venues — from major thoroughfares to neighbourhood nooks — in and around the city and stayed put into the early hours.

On the eve of the Supreme Court hearing on the RG Kar rape and murder, women’s groups called for a "Reclaim the Night" vigil from 11pm on Sunday.

The Jadavpur 8B bus stand, the space in front the Academy of Fine Arts, College Street, Shyambazar, Lake Town, Tollygunge, Behala, Salt Lake and many other places were teeming with people well before 11pm.

Outstretched hands of the protesters held cellphone torches and flaming torches. The elderly participants matched the younger ones in shouting slogans.

“Pratibader ektai swar (the protests have one voice),” shouted a woman at the 8B bus stand. “Justice for RG Kar,” a thousand voices roared back.

“The common people want to give a message. A message that the movement has not stopped, our vigil has not ended,” said Rimjhim Sinha, who was also among the first to give the call to "reclaim the night" on the eve of Independence Day.

“This campaign is not just seeking justice for any one person. We want to ensure that no one faces such brutality in the future. That is the aim of our movement. That is why the demand for structural reforms is an integral part of our movement. We want to tell the Supreme Court that we are hopeful of justice,” said Sinha, a social science researcher.

The sea of people that descended on the streets on the night of August 14 transformed the RG Kar protest into an unparalleled people’s movement.

Mitali Chandra Ghosh, a private medical practitioner from Kasba, was at the protest site at the 8B bus stand.

“I want the real culprits who raped and murdered the young doctor to be punished. I also want safer public spaces for women. Just like men, women should be able to roam around freely and without fear at night,” said Ghosh.

At the Karunamoyee intersection in Salt Lake, the gathering took over both flanks of the main road that leads to Broadway.

Amidst the cries of “We want justice”, skits were performed, slogans raised and paintings done on the road.