In another shocking incident, the students of one of Delhi’s prestigious college – Gargi College, alleged that a mob of drunken men barged into their college, molested and harassed some of the female students.
Gargi College is considered one of the best colleges of Delhi University. What happened here on February 6th would make all of us hang our heads in shame.
The students shared with the sources that an unruly group of men, who did not belong to the college, barged into the premises, groped the students, locked them into washrooms and harassed them.
This heartbreaking incident took place during the 3-day long college festival ‘Reverie’. The students further alleged that those men were seen participating in a pro-CAA rally near the college.
The students of Gargi College took to social media to share their plight that would leave you ashamed. In one of the posts, a girl mentioned:
“There were drunk, middle-aged men harassing us, molesting us and masturbating at us… I was groped thrice by a group of men inside that crowd and when I screamed they laughed.”
Another student told India Today,
“The men came in trucks and entered the campus around 4:30 pm during the fest. They continued to harass the girls for several hours and the ordeal continued till around 9 pm.”
While sharing her ordeal, a woman shared with Quint:
“At one point, I saw random men waving metro cards and getting in. They were drunk, they were climbing over gates to enter and they were simply not stopped. The police who were stationed were simply seeing the whole thing, saying they have not been instructed to act.”
Another student teared up while sharing her horrific experience,
“While we were trying to get out of the crowd, it was so suffocating! There wasn’t even space to breathe. In that time, I was hit on my back by someone, I was groped and I couldn’t even get my hand behind me to push that person away. It was a horrible experience.”
Mayhem happened at #GargiCollege today and literally no one is talking about it. Our girls were assaulted by drunk men. Amplify, take it to right channels please. @richa_singh @iamrana @abhisar_sharma @aaqibrk @hussainhaidry @tanwer_m pic.twitter.com/XXyDaVGVeQ
— Saumya Kulshreshtha (@Saumyakul) February 8, 2020
Several other students and alumni of #GargiCollege told @TheQuint that there was serious lapse of security, multiple women were harassed, drunk men who did not have passes were allowed to enter #Reverie fest. pic.twitter.com/XeBpqK2Esg
— Mythreyee (@MythreyeeRamesh) February 8, 2020
But what leaves our us shocked is what administration had to say on the shocking incident. Rather than owning up the safety of their girl students, the college administration shamed the victims. According to a report by Indian Express, Principal Promila Kumar said,
“The event was open for boys studying in other DU colleges. We had police, commandos and bouncers on campus, and staff was also on duty. There was an arena in the campus meant only for girls. If they were outside that, it was their personal choice.”
It is disheartening that an educated official believes that girl students wanted to be molested by choice.
Another student requesting anonymity told the media that she cannot confirm the allegations of molestation but she saw a large group of drunken men dropping in and molesting female students.
One of the students also claimed when they went to the college authorities on the day of the incident, they were told not to attend college festivals if they are “so scared about safety.”
At IFORHER, we are ashamed of ourselves as we live in a society where women are being groped, harassed and molested in the broad daylight in their colleges. As a society, we have failed our young generation with our silence and acceptance of such shameful behavior.
You may still choose to stay silent today but remember your silence would be the reason why your daughter or your sister feels unsafe in her own country.