Men leap gates, walls to plunge into DU’s Miranda House Diwali fest; students allege Harrasment

Students at Delhi University‘s all-women college Miranda house have alleged incidents of harassment during an ongoing open Diwali fest on the campus premises. Some men disguised as DU students from various institutions plunged into the walls and gates of the campus to witness the event. Reportedly, some of the men also indulged in “cat-calling and sexist sloganeering”. A First Information report of the same was registered against unidentified students on Monday.

Several recordings of the incident went viral over social media. Videos of these males allegedly scaling the border wall, prowling the campus, and shouting are shared by students at the famous institution.  Based on footage posted on social media, the Delhi Police claimed to have suo moto knowledge of the occurrence and had arrested the students for trespassing. The police first reported that the guys were kept out of the institution and that the protest was peaceful.

“What happened next was awful. A college student claimed there was “cat-calling, groping, misogynistic sloganeering, and more.” Men have a history of harassing gender minorities in public places, but they consistently go above and beyond.

The college’s Women’s Development Cell said in a statement that the males behaved violently when the administration attempted to forbid them from being on campus, according to The New Indian Express.

Men from Ramjas College with their sexist slogan, “Ramjas ka Naara hai, Miranda poora hamara hai”. Ramjas’s slogan, all of Miranda is ours. Despicable. pic.twitter.com/TqXGjgCWXV

— Sobhana (@sobhana__) October 15, 2022

They “entered restricted locations such as classrooms, disobeyed faculty and staff demands, and angrily replied to calls to behave,” the statement read, “A number of male students also yelled in hallways and attempted to vandalize the campus property.”

According to principal Bijaya Laxmi Nanda, Miranda House college management could not anticipate the size of the masses that attended the ceremony.

No one had foreseen or planned for such a big number of kids to attend it, according to Nanda, who told the Media agency, “We had taken measures and there were police people.” When things got out of hand, we called off the “mela” and sought to contain the situation by having the college’s gates closed by guards.

The college will file a second FIR in the case after evaluating the CCTV video, Nanda informed the publication.

In the meantime, the police and the college administration have been sent a notice on the incident, according to Swati Maliwal, the head of the Delhi Commission for Women.

Earlier in the day, Maliwal stated in a tweet that “the women have made criminal accusations of molestation and harassment.” “How did this act of vandalism occur? What security precautions were in place?