As the crowd surged forward, the police in riot gear on the other side of the barricades, fired water cannons. Metro stations had been shut, but the crowds kept coming, kept chanting: “We want justice.”

Memories of the December 2012 protest persist. Then, the anger was over the gang-rape and brutalisation of a young student, inside a moving bus in the NCR. This time, the rage was directed at an exam system repeatedly undermined by paper leaks. Then, the Congress-led UPA government relented, set up a commission and changed the law. Now, the BJP-led NDA government has conceded to demands, set up a commission and has passed an anti-paper-leak bill.

Central to both protests, and all the others in between, have been the presence of women who have unfailingly shown up.

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