A special prayer was held at Gurdwara Sahib Petaling Jaya on Friday (June 27) in honour of 20-year-old Maniishapriet Kaur Akhara who was found dead at a student hostel on June 24.
00:30This has been a very difficult ordeal for Manisha's family.
00:35Her immediate family members are not here today.
00:38There is another death in the family.
00:40Her aunt passed away today morning due to heart failure.
00:44As you can see, it is a really, really, really difficult time for the family.
00:50Therefore, having these prayers, we hope they will recover from this.
00:54And as a parent, you know, sending your child to the university, I would expect them to be in a safe zone, especially if the hostel is very near to the university.
01:06We have to look at moving forward.
01:09How are we going to protect our girls and also the boys?
01:12And I really thank the police force for acting so swiftly.
01:18Within 48 hours, they managed to arrest the three.
01:23We want justice for Manisha and we want to make sure this does not happen to another person.
01:28We are here to honour Manisha's memory, to mourn together and to heal together.
01:34But this is also to raise a united voice against a gender-based violence.
01:39As a society, we must come to a point where every daughter feels safe, valued and protected.
01:47This event reflects to our collective call for justice, healing and reform.
01:53Manisha was brutally murdered in an accommodation which was meant to basically protect her.
01:58That was the safest place.
01:59But, of course, there has been a breach of trust there, a breach of friendship and breach of safety.
02:06And which is why no family should ever, ever have to go through this.
02:10Basically, when we found out about the news, we were all taken aback.
02:14Somebody so young lost her life so brutally.
02:18And we thought that we had to do something as a community.
02:21And that's why we're having the prayers today in remembrance of someone who lost her life so dearly.
02:26She was a daughter of someone.
02:42This initiative is specially designed for outstation Sikh families,
02:47female students who are unable to return home during long semester of festive breaks.
02:53Often, left alone in hostel or unfamiliar cities, many of these girls feel isolated and vulnerable.
03:01Throughout the family to adopt the program under Sanj,
03:05they will have the option to stay with trusted Sikh family who can offer them home-like environment care and moral support.
03:14United Sikh Malaysia will also want to make a very important policy and statement here today.
03:18If there is any students in any city, part of Malaysia, who feels they have been bullied,
03:26United Sikh Malaysia will stand on behalf of them.
03:29We urge all students to come forward, all parents to come forward,
03:35to make a complaint to United Sikh Malaysia and United Sikh Malaysia shall act accordingly.
