I Will Go Out (or #IWillGoOut) was a nationwide march carried on 21 January 2017 in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to demand women's right to fair and equitable access to public spaces. People marched across 30 cities and towns of

including

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

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Silchar Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is second largest city of Assam after Guwahati in terms of population and GDP. It is also administrative capital of Barak Valley division. It is locate ...

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

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Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

and

Karimganj Karimganj, officially Sribhumi, is a town in the Karimganj district of the Indian States and territories of India, state of Assam. It is the administrative headquarters of the district. Karimganj town is located at . The area of Karimganj Tow ...

and was organized by a collective of individuals and organisations.

Background

On 2 January 2017,

Bangalore Mirror ''Bangalore Mirror'' is an English-language daily published by The Times Group in Bangalore, India, as a compact newspaper. It is a deputed newspaper and is the second-largest circulating English daily in the city. In 2020, as part of its COVID ...

, reported mass molestation of women on New Year's Eve in

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. The first person report by Anantha Subramanyam K said, "''Screams for help started ringing in the air as people in dire straits were not able to reach the police as they were caught in a sea of revelers, many of whom were clearly drunk and out of control, and looking to misbehave''." Another article by

reported that about 10 women approached a woman police officer, of which 8 complained about losing their friends in the crowd, one about eve-teasing and one about molestation. In the beginning, the Bengaluru Police Commissioner

Praveen Sood Praveen Sood is an IPS officer who serves as director of the Central Bureau of Investigation and previously served as the Police Commissioner of Bengaluru and Mysuru. He is the father-in-law of Cricketer Mayank Agarwal Mayank Anurag Agarwal ...

acknowledged the mass molestation, invited women who had been assaulted to come forward and promised to take ''suo moto'' action, however, on January 5, he denied that any such event ever occurred and also objected to the term 'mass molestation'. People outraged on social media and sexist comments by politicians like

G. Parameshwara Gangadharaiah Parameshwara (born 6 August 1951) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the Home Minister of Karnataka since 27 May 2023. He has also served as the seventh Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, and longest-serving Pre ...

and

Abu Azmi Abu Asim Azmi (born 8 August 1955) is a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He represents the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Constituency, Mumbai. He belongs to the Samajwadi Party. He is the President of the Maharashtra state branch of ...

blaming women and their clothing, 'western culture' and comparing women and men to sugar and ants respectively didn't help.

Preparation and planning

On January 4, a petition was submitted to

Change.org Change.org is a website which allows users to create and sign petitions in an attempt to advance various social causes by raising awareness and influencing decision-makers. The site is a US-based for-profit company and claims to have 551 million ...

demanding an unconditional public apology from

and G Parameshwara for the comments that have made in the media in response to the series of sexual assaults in

. A group of people, who shared similar views of outrage against increasing cases of sexual violence against women in

, came together online to organize a nationwide march on January 21 and mobilized mainly using social media.

References

External links

*{{official, https://iwillgoout2017.wixsite.com/iwillgoout Social movements in India Protest marches in India Women's rights in India January 2017 in India