Diving into icy cold water in midnight to protest girl's death

Numbed by the death of the Delhi gangrape victim, 28 men and children took a dip in a pool having sub zero temperature here last night to ring in 2013 in memory of the brave girl.

While the pool temperature itself was at sub-zero level, another 40 slabs of ice were added to raise the endurance limit. "We take this dip to express our resolve to fight till death for the dignity of women. We felt numbed over the death of the girl and the beastly attack on board a bus. This is our protest," Convenor of Mait Shaphrang Movement (MSM), an anti-graft movement, Michael Syiem said.

"A dive into a pool under sub-zero temperature is a pointer that if we overcome extremely trying physical circumstances just after stepping into the new year, we are equally tough to face any oddity in the 365 days and protect our mothers, sisters and daughters," Syiem said.

Thirteen-year old H Kharshandi and his father, William Marbaniang (57), who is also a heart patient, were among the 28 who took the plunge. Syiem, an anti-graft activist in Meghalaya, had led anti-corruption movement which has unearthed several anomalies of the Congress-led coalition government in the past one year.