Students say stalking, verbal harassment rampant on PU campus; authorities deny

In September, a student residing in Hostel 3 was stalked by a group of male students. She was chased from the main gate of the university to her hostel inside the campus.

The student, on condition of anonymity, claims she was continuously harassed verbally and stalked throughout one week in September.

“I used to go to the library at night and often stayed there till 2 am. One boy and his friends used to keep staring at me and passing lewd remarks. Later, they started sitting next to me in the library just staring at me. I ignored it because I didn’t want to cause trouble,” she said.

However, at the end of the week, while returning from a friend’s house outside the campus, she claims she was chased by one of those male students.

“First he was walking behind me proclaiming his love for me loudly, then he started jogging behind me. I burst into tears and ran. When I reached near the boys’ hostel, I called one of my friends asking him to come downstairs. By the time he reached, they had gone,” the student added.

Fearing stigma, she did not register any complaint. She stopped going to the library for weeks before deciding to return only during the daytime.

“If there is such an incident, the students should inform us immediately. They can call me on the spot or tell the security officer nearby and the matter will be sorted then and there. We would have caught the boy and registered an FIR,” said Professor Ashwani Koul, Chief Security Officer at PU.

Koul said since there are many guards at each gate, women do not face any harassment on campus .

“There might be more guards posted now, but many of my friends, especially those living outside the campus still fear going to the library at night. There is an isolated and unlit stretch between the gate number 3 and the hostels outside,” said Udbhwana, a Masters Student of English at the university.

Hostels 8, 9 and 10, are located outside the main campus and are relatively isolated.

“The stretch between the PU gate and the hostels outside seem a little isolated because that street is lined with residential properties on the left, so everyone is asleep by ten-eleven. But otherwise it is quite lit,” claims Koul adding that it is “best not to walk alone at night”.

Shivangi, a PHD student of history, says that despite the library being open to all throughout the night, there are barely any women studying after 10 pm.

“There is no official curfew imposed on the hostellers, but I think we ourselves have internalized a curfew. We rush to be back in our rooms by seven- eight,” said Shivangi.

Emanual Nahar, Dean of Student Welfare at the college, however, said there are no issues.

“The street lights work properly and there are security guards stationed everywhere. What more can we do for their security? It is just few girls passing on inaccurate information,” he said.

Manali, an engineering student from Hostel 9 agrees with Nahar to an extent. “They have amped up the security. Before there used to be incidents of strange men coming into our hostels from the adjacent slums. During the last semester, there was a knife wielding man running astray in our hostel. At least all that has stopped for now,” said Manali.

Shipra, the warden from Hostel No. 9 also claims there are “no such untoward incidents occurring in these hostels anymore.”

Recently, a male student, Swapnil also alleged that he was stalked on campus.

“I was walking back from my sports practice and a group of girls kept blocking my path, I tried to leave but they just wouldn’t let me. Eventually, I had to take a detour to escape them. It is an uncomfortable situation, regardless of your gender “ said Swapnil.