Unidentified men catcall and harass women at the Miranda House diwali fest, continuing a history of harassment in DU fests

"Ramjas ka naara hai, Miranda poora hamara hai." This was one of the slogans being chanted by unidentified men (eyewitnesses claim they were from Ramjas but there can be men from other colleges too) while catcalling from outside the walls of Miranda House, an all-girls college, during one of the college's diwali fests.

Be it North Campus or the South, the University of Delhi (DU) has unfortunately witnessed several such cases of sexist behaviour and even direct harassment. What happened at Miranda just seems to be the tip of the iceberg. 

What went down at Miranda? According to eyewitness accounts from Miranda House, several men (allegedly from the neighbouring Ramjas College in North Campus) tried to climb over the walls to enter the college on October 14 (Friday). The aforementioned slogan was raised causing ruckus among Miranda's students. No police action has been taken as of now. 

To quote the statement by Women's Development Cell of Miranda House, "Many attendees of the fest, primarily men, went entirely out of control at this move and reacted aggressively when the administration prevented them from being on campus. They entered restricted premises like classrooms, ignored the requests of professors and staff, responded rudely to appeals to behave and invaded the students' personal space."'

According to a comment by current Jamia Millia Islamia student (ex-Miranda House almuna) Aasma Qureshi, a similar incident occurred in April during the Sociology Department's fest with unchecked outsiders causing chaos despite the department's strict policy of allowing only those who carried passes and had pre-registered for the event. To quote Quereshi, "We were in the auditorium where an open mic was taking place when a bunch of males began shouting Jai Shree Ram and other slogans, causing a commotion in the room and forcing the cancellation of the entire event."

Previous cases of harassment in DU college fests: Mecca is the annual college fest of Hindu College, one of DU's highest ranked colleges that also lies in North Campus. It is quite a common fact amongst the alumni about the college's infamous instances of sexism that can best be exemplified from a poster from the 2017 edition of Mecca that read,

This translates as ''In Hindu, you find both stuff and stuff". The double usage of the word "maal" (stuff) obviously implies both drugs and women. 

Even beyond the North Campus, the other reputed colleges have had instances like what happened at Miranda this month, particularly in Tarang (the annual fest of Lady Sri Ram College AKA LSR) and Reverie (the annual fest of Gargi College). It is to be noted that both LSR and Gargi are all-girls colleges much like Miranda. 

Held between January 30 and February 1, the 2019 edition of Reverie saw outsider men catcalling and groping the female students during a Prateek Kuhad concert. Gargi's students pointed out how this was a failure on the part of the security agencies who continued allowing men at around 6.30 pm even though the gates were to be closed by 5 pm. This pattern of mass harassment was continued in 2020's Reverie too with men even drinking and removing their shirts in the open during a Jubin Nautiyal concert in Gargi. 

The 2019 Reverie's motto was "'Consent, Choice, and Conservation". The irony wasn't lost on anyone.

Following the 2020 debacle, the students of Gargi went on an indefinite strike outside the offices of the Principal and their Department heads, citing inaction by the administration. According to a press release by Delhi Comission For Women (which stood in solidarity with the students of Gargi), "The committee will work independently of the administration and all other forms of authorities in college. Further questions and grievances were addressed to the entire administration and the principal were a written apology, a minimum-security plan, a press release and written answers were demanded.'"

Ultimately, the Delhi Police registered an FIR against unknown persons on the complaint by the Gargi College principal on February 10 2020. Testimonies of students and security team were also recorded and CCTV records were also checked. However, no further developments have been reported ever since. 

The Virgin Tree debate in Hindu College: Seemingly sexist notions can also be propagated through campus culture if not direct harassment. Since the 90s (and arguably 80s), a certain tree in the Hindu College campus has been much venerated among the entirety of DU (particularly male students), being christened as "The Virgin Tree". Every Valentine's Day, the boys of Hindu College Boys' Hostel show up at the tree and conduct a "pooja". Water-filled condoms are hung on the branches and the poster of a female "sex symbol" is carried around, being accorded the status of a goddess (known as Damdami Mai). From Sunny Leone to Disha Patani, several female celebrities have been annointed as the annual Damdami Mai every year. 

In the past few years, students at Hindu have gone on to debate the sexist undertones of the Virgin Tree customs and how they seem to objectify the chosen actress or celebrity as the Damdami Mai.

In what has been described as a "tokenistic move" by these opposing students, the students from Boys Hostel (most of whom are in support of Virgin Tree) have introduced a concept of "Love Guru" (a male sex symbol for the female students) and the 2020 Valentine's even saw them putting up an LGBTQIA+ poster reading "Love is Love".

However, students from the queer rights collective of the college, Hindu Queer Circle (HQC) have constantly rejeted such steps and wish a total end to the Virgin Tree customs. When student collectives from the University like Pinjratod and All India Students Association (AISA) sat in protest on the eve of Valentine's in 2019 and 2020, the factions from the boys' hostel reportedly got involved in catcalling.

The incumbent Principal, Prof Anju Srivastava reportedly didn't take any specific action and instead showed up at the 2020 Virgin Tree ceremony demanding a peaceful event with no hullaballoo. Police officials were also stationed in the college premises to prevent any chaos. 

Ever since the pandemic led to closure of colleges and online classes, most of the fests were delayed in 2021. In 2022, it can still not be determined how the fests and events like the Virgin Tree ceremony took place (or whether they took place at all). But with the pandemic lessening its impact and more colleges resuming normalcy, the curent Miranda House incident seems to bring back the concerns of Delhi University's history of harassment towards women and queer populations. No updates have been reported from either Delhi Police or bodies like the National Commission for Women as of now.