Mumbai: Bollywood celebrities, along with thousands of Mumbaikars, gathered on Sunday for a peaceful protest against the barbaric rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, and sexual assault of another young girl in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.

Bollywood celebrities like Rajkummar Rao, Patralekha, Sameera Reddy, Twinkle Khanna along with her son Arav, Akshay Kumar, actress Tara Sharma, music director Vishal Dadlani, singer and social activist Sona Mohapatra, filmmaker Kiran Rao, Aditi Rao Hydari, veteran actress Helen were among many others who came on the streets of Bandra to protest against the incidents of rape and seek justice.

They were holding placards and posters that read #justiceforasifa.

Some young girls were also present at the gathering holding posters that read: "This is not just rape, this is genocide with state support."

"Before having a Swachh Bharat, we want a safe Bharat," read the placard of a young burkha-clad girl.

Vishal Dadlani said, "We want to stop this nonsense now... we want action and we want it now! Once the man is accused and guilty of raping and killing a baby girl, he should be hanged then and then."

"Our gathering shows that we as a community stand for the cause; there is a helplessness that we all feel and therefore we are standing here. We want justice," said Sona Mohapatra.

Several Bollywood actresses like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Swara Bhaskar, Sonam Kapoor, Shruti Seth and Mini Mathur also held placards asking for justice for the eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped, sedated, starved, gang-raped and murdered in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.

(Source: IANS)