For freshers at Delhi University, security is one of the major causes of concern, revealed a survey by a youth organisation.
On Friday, a group of members from the organisation — Wake Up India Foundation — organised a flash mob cum protest to express their anguish about cases of eve-teasing on campus and to make people aware about the issue.
Lakshita Sapra, head of the Delhi chapter of the organisation said: “After the new session began, we spoke to a number of freshers in the university and found out that they do not find the campus safe. Many girls complained that they face eve-teasing while coming back from their colleges in the evening. The problem is that most of them do not report these cases, which is why we thought there was a need to make people aware about this issue through a protest and appeal to them to stop eve-teasing.”
A safety audit conducted by Jagori, a women’s organisation, last year also proves that the campus is not safe for students.
One of the problems that the audit pointed out was that girls do not feel safe after classes get over, which is why they avoid staying back and using the college library.
“In North campus girls are not able to stay back in college after classes and hence are not able to use library facilities. We found that girls were using the university facilities lesser in comparison with the boys,” Kalpana from Jagori said.
The audit also found out that girl-students had problems in returning home after college. “Travelling from colleges to the metro station was found to be a problem because a lot of guys would drive past the university roads, passing comments on girls and making them uncomfortable. Since Delhi University is not a closed campus, people from anywhere keep driving past the university roads making it unsafe for girl-students,” she added.
The areas that girl-students in North Campus identify as unsafe include the stretch from Civil Lines metro station to Kamla Nagar metro station, the ridge area near Hansraj College, some lanes of Malka Ganj and the road connecting the campus to Hudson Lane.
When it comes to South campus, according to students the unsafe zones include Sirifort complex, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi University campus and the area around LSR College.
“The moment we step out of college, we are subjected to eve-teasing and uncomfortable comments by boys. It is disappointing that such harassments issues are not addressed. I do feel there is lack of security around the college, which should be a must,” said Mehak, a student of Bhagat Singh College.
Apart from taking measures to tackle this menace of eve-teasing, Hansika Gulati, a student of Ramjas College said that the college administration should also be responsible in ensuring security.
The Delhi Police however claims that they have taking measures to ensure that girls are safe on campus.
“Starting this year, we are deploying squads of our personnel including women personnel inside the buses in university to keep an eye on any kind of eve-teasing or attempt of molestation. We also have our squad deployed at bus stops on campus and in areas adjacent to the campus. We are taking eve-teasing and molestation very seriously. If any case comes to our knowledge, the person will be immediately booked,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, North Madhur Verma.
