Miranda House Diwali fest: Girl students allege harassment; Delhi Police say event was very peaceful

After videos of men climbing Delhi University's prestigious Miranda House college walls to witness an open Diwali fest on campus and allegedly indulging in 'cat-calling and sexist sloganeering' went viral, the Delhi Commission for Women has issued a notice to the city police and the college.

Questioning the college's security arrangements for the event, DCW chief Swati Maliwal said the girl students have made serious allegations of harassment and molestation. 'How did this hooliganism happen? What were the security arrangements? We are sending notices to Delhi Police and college administration,' she said on Twitter.

The videos, shot by students of the prestigious all-women Miranda House college, showed some men purportedly scaling the boundary wall, roaming on the campus and raising slogans. 

Even though no complaint has been received regarding the incident, the police have taken cognizance of the videos on social media. The police claim that the October 14 Diwali programme remained "incident-free" and that the three to four students, who were trying to enter the college, were stopped. The programme was incident-free and very peaceful, the police said in a statement.

However, the college students have claimed that they were subjected to 'sexist sloganeering and catcalling' after some men allegedly forcibly entered the campus during the events on Friday. 
     
One of the students took to Twitter to post, 'Men climbing over the walls to get into Miranda House during an open fest. What followed was horrible. Catcalling, groping, sexist sloganeering and more. Men entering safe spaces to harass gender minorities is nothing new, but they outdo themselves every time.'

She further said that men, believed to be from Ramjas College, raised 'despicable' sexist slogans. They raised the slogan 'Ramjas ka Naara hai, Miranda poora hamara hai' (Ramjas' slogan, all of Miranda is ours),' he said.

Also Read: WSJ carries full-page anti-India paid ad by fugitive ex-Devas CEO Ramachandran, gets slammed