Prez urges nation to wake up, end crimes against women

Declaring that "enough is enough", President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said it is time for India to wake up to the "perversion" of crimes against women and counter the mindset that sees women as "less powerful, less capable, less intelligent".

"Those who share such views then go further and see the female as an object... We owe it to our daughters to remove the hurdles from their path of winning the freedom from fear," Murmu said in an exclusive signed article for PTI.

Referring to the August 9 rape and murder of a junior doctor in a Kolkata hospital, a "dismayed and horrified" President said what is even more depressing is that it is part of a series of crimes against women.

Murmu said no civilised society can allow daughters and sisters to be subjected to such atrocities.

"The nation is bound to be outraged, and so am I," she wrote.

The hard-hitting and personalised article, titled "Women's Safety: Enough is Enough", is the first time the President has articulated her views on the August 9 Kolkata incident that has once again shaken the conscience of the nation and led to widespread, continuing protests.

The President gave the article after a detailed conversation on topical issues with a team of PTI senior editors, who called on her at Rashtrapati Bhavan to mark the 77th anniversary of the news agency's founding on August 27, 1947.