‘Anguished, shaken’: Students share harassment ordeals at college fests

“The window shaft was tilted, opened a bit…we saw a phone recording us through the gap…the washroom was old and broken…later we saw the suspect in the CCTV footage recording us and running away” said the above quoted student.

Students are traumatised that their video recording might spread on social media leaving their futures jeopardised. “The incident took place around 3:30 pm on Friday…we went to the student volunteers handling the fest…it took them more than two hours to find the CCTV footage and spot the guy who was a part of the institute’s housekeeping…” said Ashima, a third year B. Com student at Bharati College, who is also the president of the college’s fashion society.

Students of Indraprastha College for Women in April this year had organised a protest over alleged security lapses during annual fests. A third year Political Science and Economics student at the college, shared how the incident has taken a toll over her friend. “My friend who was severely injured, is still traumatised, her mental health has taken a toll and she has gone back home. She is currently on a break. Her case has been registered with the Delhi Police but she has no hope of getting justice as there has been no promising development” she said. The above student who suffered injuries during the fest, when contacted by The Indian Express said “I am improving.”

Meanwhile, Principal of Bharati College Saloni Gupta and Director of IIT-Delhi Rangan Banerjee highlighted their concerns on the incident on Friday.

Gupta in her email wrote, “I am writing to bring to your attention a deeply concerning incident that occurred on 6th October, during our student’s participation in a fashion show event held at your esteemed institution…However, to our shock and dismay, we discovered that one of your employees/workers had filmed our students while they were in the process of changing costumes in the designated dressing rooms.”

“This incident constitutes a gross violation of our students’ privacy and is completely unacceptable…I kindly request you to launch a thorough investigation into this incident and identify the employee/worker responsible for this invasive and inappropriate conduct,” Gupta further said.

Expressing his “heartfelt apologies to the students and their families”, IIT-D director Rangan Banerjee said, “The culprit has been handed over to the police and we are following up with Delhi Police.”

The Delhi Police on Sunday said, “They have arrested the sweeper and have received the phone. They are questioning students and staffers at IIT-D.”

All Indian Students Association’s unit in DU in its statement said, “Incidents of this nature highlight the stark lack of gender sensitisation on campus, and demonstrates the necessity of instituting a Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), which remains a long suppressed demand of students…AISA extends its solidarity to the survivors of the incident and demands that justice be provided to the survivors. AISA demands that members of the staff who were involved in dismissing the incident be suspended as they are complicit in the incident.”