Amidst all the chaos, there is one video of a group of women protecting a young man from the Delhi Police that has become the face of bravery through the protests. Two of those women are 22-year-old Ayesha Renna & Ladeeda Farzana have been called the unsung heroes of the protest.
Shame On Delhi Police#JamiaProtests #ResignNowAmitShah #BJPburningIndia pic.twitter.com/0LTdJ0Tuty
— Nadeem_Hussain (@nadeem_hacker) December 16, 2019
In the video, they can be clearly seen protecting a young man, Shaheen from the police. As the two try to save him by pulling him inside the house, he is dragged out by the police. In an interview, Ayesha shared the timeline of the incident.
We were at the back of the group. Around 5.30 pm, we saw people at the front running back and police charging towards us. We went inside the garage of a house and stayed there. There were nine of us girls and one boy. The gate couldn’t be closed because a car was blocking it. A few policemen surrounded us outside and asked us to come out. They said they wouldn’t hit us. We refused but suddenly one of them dragged the boy out and we were pulled out too. They then started hitting all of us with lathis.
-Ayesha Renna told Indian Express
Ayesha is a history student and Ladeeda, a BA Arabic student, both of them hail from Kerala. They revealed in an interview with Barkha Dutt that their families and husbands are quite supportive of them standing up for what is right.
“They tell women to stay at home and not speak up, but speak up we must. Nobody can take our voice”- 22 year old Ayesha Renna & Ladeeda Farzana -Sheroes from 2 viral images from #Jamia, one in which they save their male friend from lathis, speak to me about Women Leading protests pic.twitter.com/xc2jvO4iUZ
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) December 16, 2019
Renna’s husband even shared a Facebook post saying how proud he was of his wife for standing up against the odds.
Twitter is in awe of these two for fearing no one when faced with such extreme amount of violence.
Proud of you Ayesha Renna who put her life in danger to save other’s lives. It was an honour to have students like you sit in my class.
— S.M.Umair (@imumair123) December 16, 2019
Proud of all such students from jamia who are coming out to support each other https://t.co/mcoHe98Kg1
Well done #AyeshaRenna #LadeedaFarzana …you will be the ideal for many … #MardaniInReal #Bravery is not gender selective. https://t.co/AVHcb2agAf
— the enlightened soul (@devinderthegr8) December 16, 2019
The Real Barkha👍👍👍
— Jameel Ahmad (@jameela10486778) December 16, 2019
To stand with these sheroes, more power to you to listen sane voices.
Brave, Brave women. Salute. #JamiaMilia pic.twitter.com/VbnxmeC9Ys
— Arshad Aziz (@Iam_Arshad1) December 15, 2019
Protests in New Delhi have continued since.