Molestation case filed for Miranda House trespass

 

Delhi Police registered a case against unnamed people after videos went viral on social media that showed several of men scaling the wall of Miranda House college during a campus festival, and creating a ruckus.

Delhi Police on Monday registered a case against unnamed people after videos went viral on social media that showed several of men scaling the wall of Miranda House college during a campus festival, and creating a ruckus.

“A case under section 354D (stalking), 509 (outraging modesty of a woman), 448 (punishment for house trespass), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered and investigation has been taken up,” said Sagar Singh Kalsi, deputy commissioner of police, north. “Teams have obtained CCTV footage from the college.”

In the videos, men can be seen scaling walls and gates of the college, and shouting slogans inside the campus. A second-year BA programme student Sobhana (who goes by her first name) had tweeted the video, saying: “Men climbing over the walls to get into Miranda House during an open fest. What followed was horrible. Cat calling, groping, sexist sloganeering and more. Men entering safe spaces to harass gender minorities is nothing new, but they outdo themselves every time.”

The incident took place on October 14 during the annual Diwali Mela organised by the college titled Onella, which was scheduled from 10.30am to 4.30pm. It was an open festival for anyone who had a valid Delhi University admit card.

A second-year BA student, Anushka Chaudhary, who was present at the time of the incident, said that around 12pm, she reached the main gate of the college and saw a huge crowd.

“There were hundreds of people and most of them were men. It was uncontrollable. The security had shut the gates and even those who were students of Miranda House were not allowed inside,” Chaudhary said. “Me and my friend managed to go inside via the hostel gate.”

When she entered, she said she saw a huge crowd, and the teachers, including the principal, were trying to control the situation. “The event had been cancelled and stalls were asked to shut. The principal was asking the students to ask the boys to leave the premises. I saw the boys entering the hostel, picking up girls’ clothing, and parading them around. They were passing comments on how they were dressed in skimpy clothes,” she said.

Those attending the festival were supposed to stay in a designated area, but the men were all over the place “making us all feel very uncomfortable,” said another student who asked not to be named.

“They were shouting extremely objectionable slogans. We were unsafe in our own campus,” she said.

Chaudhary said they were told by the principal to gather outside her office as the campus was filled with an unruly crowd. “We kept begging them to leave, but they didn’t. Eventually, as time passed, the situation was brought under control by students and security,” she said. “Police were present, but they were outnumbered.”

Sobhana, who tweeted the videos, said she reached the college around 3pm and was told about what had happened. “The videos were circulating on our internal WhatsApp groups and social media , so I asked students to send it to me,” she said.

Miranda House principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda said she was present at the time of the festival. “There were more people at the event than we could manage. We closed the doors but they were jumping in. Police then controlled and managed the crowd, and by 3.30pm, everything as under control,” she said.

Nanda added that an internal inquiry into the incident has been initiated and the college authorities have asked students to share complaints of harassment.

“So far, we have not received any individual complaint by any student. If we’ll receive any, we’ll follow due procedure and work in parallel with police. We have also written to police, stating that miscreants had entered the college and asked them to probe the incident from the CCTV footage,” she said

Around 30 police personnel were present at the event, Kalsi said.

In a notice issued by Nanda on Monday, she said that an emergency standard operating procedure was being put in place for events under which no open events without prior registration will take place, the registration number to be kept in manageable limits, any fair to be an intracollege event and they should be organised after 2pm.

“This is to ensure that college continues to be a free and enabling space for all its stakeholders,” the notice said.