Around 60 women walked through Delhi’s Vasant Kunj late on October 1 in a public demonstration aimed at making women’s presence on city streets after dark more visible and ordinary. The walk, organised by the decade-old Women Walk at Midnight initiative, took place amid protests across Delhi following the alleged gangrape of a 17-year-old at Aastha Kunj Park.
The group began at 9.30 pm from Vasant Arcade and moved through Pocket 2 and Sector C, passing the Vasant Kunj North police station before taking the main road towards C-9 Market. At the market, participants stopped outside shuttered shops and used camping lamps and phone screens to draw on large sheets of paper spread across the pavement.
The drawings included messages such as “If Day can be ours, Night is too”, “Reclaim the Night” and “Equal Rights!”. Participants also drew trees, eyes, women, flowers and kites. The activity formed part of the organisers’ broader effort to challenge the idea that women’s movement through public spaces should be restricted by time or fear.
Delhi Police accompanied the group after organisers sought its cooperation. Uniformed personnel and police vehicles travelled ahead of and alongside the walkers. Organisers also asked participants to maintain a comfortable pace, pause when necessary, travel together in carpools and respect the people and spaces encountered during the walk. Participants who did not want to be photographed could use masks or dupattas, while live locations were not to be shared outside the registered group.
Mallika Taneja, a long-time organiser, said the repeated cycle of high-profile sexual violence cases and protests had made the question of women’s independent mobility more urgent. “Why are we still having to ask if a woman can just walk alone?” she said.
The initiative was inspired by the movement that followed the 2012 Delhi gangrape case. Organiser Mallika said she took part in her first night walk under the banner in December 2016. According to her, women walking at 11 pm, midnight or 1 am now draw less surprise, with some members of the public joining the walks out of curiosity and solidarity.
Drishti, a performer and theatre artist who started the Faridabad chapter in 2023, said being outside at night had once required negotiations at home. She said repeated participation had changed both her own relationship with the night and her family’s response to it. “The city also gets used to seeing women go out,” she said.
For participants, the walk was also about access to public space beyond safety messaging. Women sang while walking, and some joined in as classic Hindi film songs played from a small speaker. At the end of the evening, practical concerns about getting home remained part of the experience. A first-time participant asked who was travelling towards Delhi Cantonment, after which women began coordinating group travel in that direction.
The walk’s organisers have not presented it as a substitute for policing or safer infrastructure. Its immediate purpose was to make women’s presence in public spaces after dark visible, while the police escort and travel arrangements reflected the continuing safety measures participants considered necessary.
