Gargi College students to protest against alleged sexual harassment today

Students of Delhi University’s all-women Gargi College will protest on Monday at their campus against the alleged sexual harassment during the college’s annual fest.

Students of Delhi University’s all-women Gargi College will protest on Monday at their campus against the alleged sexual harassment during the college’s annual fest. Several students have alleged that they were manhandled, molested and sexually assaulted by a group of outsiders on Thursday, the last day of their college fest ‘Reverie’.

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In a poster issued on Sunday, a group of women invited fellow students to come forward and show solidarity with those who had “unsafe experiences” because of the administration at the campus last week. A member of the college’s students’ union, requesting anonymity, said, “We will gather in large numbers in the college on Monday to have a dialogue with the college principal. We want answers from the administration on how they failed to provide safety and security to us on our own campus.”

While the students have alleged that a group of outsiders broke open the college gate on Thursday and “illegally” entered their campus, the administration claimed that no such incident was “reported”. College principal Promila Kumar had on Saturday said, “No incident of this kind was reported to the administration. There were sufficient security arrangements and police, in uniform as well as plainclothes, were on duty. Commandos and bouncers, along with enough faculty and staff, were on duty.”

A second-year undergraduate student, who wished to not be named said, “It was a horrible scene in our college on Thursday. A large group of outsiders broke open the college gate and started pouring in. We were stuck among a flood of men, who were groping women and passing lewd comments. We will have a dialogue with the administration on Monday and ask them why their security failed.”

Meanwhile, the police said that they have not received any complaint about the incident. “No complaint has been received from the college’s principal or the students. No calls to the police control room were made either,” deputy commissioner of police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said.