Walls will be crossed; women will be groped-assaulted but sinners will still have a future. Have women become second sex and all their decisions are affected by the thought of their safety which ironically cannot be found even in women colleges? Where does a woman go then?
At the Diwali fest at Delhi University’s prestigious all-women Miranda College, men climbed over the walls to get inside the premises. Women students allege they were catcalled, groped and inappropriately touched.
Being a college established and maintained by Delhi University, Miranda House has a special place among the women’s colleges of Delhi.
Competing with the best on equal terms, Miranda House welcomes interaction with other colleges and educational organizations across the country, actively engaging both men and women in all its extramural activities.
But, what happened during the Diwali fest clearly amounts to more than criminal trespass, and the such act, of course, was not a new sight. “What followed was horrible. Cat-calling, groping, sexist sloganeering and more,” said Shobhna, a student of the college.
Two years ago, the same happened at Gargi College situated in South Delhi. “We struggled for days on end for things to be set straight with continuous protests all day everyday for more than a week,” said Nityanandini Rao, another student who was witness to the incident. “When I read about the same thing happening in Miranda again, I felt so stupid. So foolish. All for what? Nothing. Feeling Disgusted and helpless.”
Meanwhile, Miranda College student Shobhana shared on her Twitter handle, the visuals of men jumping over the gates to ‘harass women inside Miranda House’.
The college website claims that the institution is committed to working towards safety of all its students, and that “it has round the clock security of high standards. To this end it even employs a large number of well-trained guards including lady staff and CCTV on 24 hour roster.”
Yet, several men were seen scaling the walls of Miranda House College to enter the campus during its open Diwali fest on October 15.
Paloma Sharma, who does culture and content marketing for Bumble, says, “What happened in Miranda House is just a heart-breaking reality check for young women that no matter how hard you work and what elite institutions you enter into to improve the trajectory of your life, you will never escape the consequences of simply being born a woman.”
After this incident, Delhi University has issued new guidelines for holding events on campus that require prior police permission.
While police is reported to have registered an FIR, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chief Swati Maliwal has issued notice to Delhi Police and Miranda House over trespassing and sexual harassment of girls during the Diwali fest.
It is again another question if DCW Chairperson Swati Maliwal herself feels safe and secure, after she recently alleged that her residence was ransacked by an unidentified assailant. Vehicles parked in her house were also damaged, she alleged.
Now who is safe?
