New Delhi: Students from Delhi University’s Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW), along with other student groups, have been protesting for a week against alleged security lapses within the campus premises last month. In response to these protests, the state university Monday issued a notice that a five-member committee has been formed to investigate incidents of “harassment” by male trespassers on 29 March during the college’s annual festival ‘Shruti’.
Several students said they were “manhandled” and “molested” by unidentified men who barged into the college premises — injuring some students in the process — and accused the administration of failing to take appropriate action despite notifying them on the day of the festival.
“There were police present within the campus but no one came forward to help,” Shambhavi Chaudhary, a second-year student at IPCW, told ThePrint. “We were locked in our hostels and the administration said that we should leave the campus so that the men would follow us in a bid to make the trespassers leave.”
“The fest continued while the incident was underway and many were injured,” added the 20-year-old.
The protesters are now demanding the dismissal of IPCW principal Poonam Kumria.
The Delhi Commission for Women has taken cognizance of the situation and summoned DU officials. Meanwhile, the college administration issued a statement Monday, asking students for assistance in identifying individuals responsible.
According to a report in The Indian Express, in the statement signed by Kumria, IPCW asked the students to submit all “complaints, photos and videos with the administrative officer of the college”.
“… The management of the college believes that all those individuals who are responsible for this unfortunate incident should be punished by the law-enforcing agency and for that purpose, all information provided to the college will be forwarded to the law-enforcing agencies (sic),” it added.
Speaking to ThePrint, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said, “A suo moto case was filed after the incident at the college and the investigation is underway. The police are trying to maintain the peace and tranquility in the area.”
“We have questioned 11-12 suspects,” he added.
The FIR, said Kalsi, has been filed under sections 441 (criminal trespass), 319 (causing hurt) and 354 (assault of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The students’ collective of the IPCW also released a statement Monday looking for support for their protest, said a media report.
“We, the students of Indraprastha College for Women, have been through the entire course of these three days with great strength and hope, and we need further support to strengthen our cause. We are being surveilled — digitally and otherwise — and soon might be threatened with suspension or other disciplinary measures. It is our appeal to all people who stand by constitutional values to be with us in our fight for a freer campus, a freer society for women,” the report quoted the statement.
The students’ body plans to hold a general meeting to discuss their demands with the college administration Wednesday.
Also Read: Kalakshetra alum says teacher ‘rebuffed’ him when told he faced sexual harassment by staffer
What happened on 29 March
Students allege that on 29 March, the second day of the two-day college festival, unknown men barged into the campus, breaking down the gates with their car. Two students sustained injuries and had to be rushed to the hospital.
“When the gates were closed, the men climbed over the hostel gates. When they were asked to leave, they said they ‘won’t until they get a glimpse of the girls’,” Shreya Kapoor, an IPCW alumni who was present on campus at the time of the incident, told ThePrint.
According to the students, the principal initially denied that such an incident had taken place at all and dismissed their claims of harassment saying, “it was only a handful of women who had an issue with the crowd (of men barging in)”.
Students who spoke to ThePrint said principal Kumria was seen “dancing on stage” while women were being manhandled inside the campus for two hours.
Following the incident, 250 written complaints from IPCW students were received by the college administration, but no response was received from them. The complaints were then forwarded to the Delhi Commission for Women. The students are now demanding action against the men responsible for the harassment, urging the principal to address their concerns and calling for her resignation.
Protests, threats to students
On 31 March, a day after protestors were allegedly “manhandled” and “detained” by the police, an ‘Azadi March’ was organised by Left students’ groups and led by student representatives of gender-minority colleges like IPCW, Miranda and Gargi. According to Shambhavi, “15-20 students were detained during the protest”.
Students ThePrint spoke to said the Code of Criminal Procedure’s Section 144 (prohibiting public gathering) has been in effect on campus since 29 March.
The IPCW administration has also sent some students disciplinary notices and the guardian of one of the protestors was asked to prevent their ward from organising marches, ThePrint has learnt.
“Professors told us that our internal markings will be deducted if we sit on protests. My parents were told an FIR will soon be filed in my name,” IPCW student Shambhavi told ThePrint.
Not the first time
In February 2020, Gargi College had faced a similar situation. Then, in October 2022, Miranda House saw a group of men infiltrate the college grounds after being denied permission to enter during the college fest. IPCW principal Kumaria was a professor of geography in Miranda at the time.
Miranda, which is yet to take action in the October case, has decided to keep the festival as closed to outsiders this year, Shobhana Pramod, a second-year student at Miranda told ThePrint.
“Fests happen across colleges in DU, including in co-ed ones like Ramjas and Hindu, but such harassment of women doesn’t occur in co-ed colleges. It happens more in gender minority colleges such as IPCW, Miranda and Gargi. The root cause is not the fests or the overcrowding but that men fetishise women’s colleges. They believe these are the campuses where they can come and harass women,” said Pramod. “Universities don’t take action against the perpetrators. They do not organise gender sensitisation courses or undertake awareness programmes. Their method is to lock girls up. The effect is that now Gargi college has decided to call off its fest. Why are we being punished for something men do?”
The students are wary of the long-term effects of such measures. They feel women will now be hesitant to walk around freely in campuses and that the administration will further clamp down on their curfew timings and inter-hostel movement.
Miranda House is one of the few colleges in DU without a curfew after Pinjra Tod, a women’s collective, protested against it in 2017.
“This is a pattern. We have seen a steady increase in these incidents. We are not only against what has happened, but against the fundamental changes (in ideology) being brought around in campuses across DU,” IPCW student Shreya said.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also Read: Kalakshetra Chennai has a PoSH problem. Students fume, gag order imposed, art world shaken