Mandatory NOC from the police. Concertina wires on boundary walls. CCTVs at all gates, including hostel entrances. These are some of the measures that, as per the 17-point advisory issued by the University of Delhi on April 13, colleges and departments must implement when organising festivals and other events. The advisory has come in the wake of alleged security lapses during the Indraprastha College for Women’s annual fest — intruders scaled the boundary walls of the institution and allegedly harassed women students — and ensuing protests by students who accused the college administration of failing to protect them. There is no arguing against the need for greater safety of students. But the university’s response to this latest instance of a security lapse — a similar incident had occurred during Miranda House’s Diwali Mela in October last year and at Gargi College’s annual fest in 2020 — raises concerns about how exactly this safety will be ensured. Will it shift the onus onto the students themselves? Will it come at the cost of their privacy and freedoms?
It’s not incidental that the three campuses on which the incidents occurred are all women’s campuses. This makes it even more necessary for authorities to tread sensitively, and not be heavy-handed in the name of women’s safety and security. For many students in an all-women institution, the campus is a place of openness and a refuge from the confines and constraints of home, family and community. It is a place where they can, away from censuring eyes and voyeuristic stares, explore new ways of being. They can question and discover, study and socialise in an enabling environment that is also a safe space. When there is a threat to their safety, however, the response cannot be the all-too-common one of asking the women to retreat from their freedoms, by barricading them in their hostels or monitoring their every move through the CCTV.
The growing trend of securitisation and surveillance in the name of students’ safety is not limited to all-women institutions, and is deeply concerning. Cameras in classrooms and police permissions to organise routine events are not a guarantee against untoward incidents, but they do impinge on the privacy of students, and end up reducing trust in the authorities. It would be much better, instead, to talk to the students, sensitise them on the challenges and support them when needed. That is much harder work, of course — but it is the only way to ensure that security does not mean having to step back from freedom.
