In the extremely unfortunate incident that happened in Miranda House a few weeks before, several men forced their way into the college premises by climbing the college gates. They began engaging in several derogatory acts including cat-calling, groping, and other kinds of sexual misconduct. It truly is saddening to see repeated acts of these kinds of dishonorable behaviors being perpetuated at Delhi University, a so-called institution of prestige.
While there is a popular perception that campuses provide a safer space and are in solidarity with the needs and requirements of women, such instances prove otherwise. Taking us back to another traumatic episode in 2020, women in Gargi college were groped, harassed, and stalked during their annual festival “Reverie”. Some women even had to face the sight of men masturbating before them. In another eerily similar case that happened in Indraprastha College for Women in North Campus way back in the year 2007, the students were subjected to physical and verbal harassment by some men who entered the college premises. It is even more aggrieving to note that the perpetrators were identified but in some cases, never punished.
The rising attacks and the perpetuation of this cycle throughout several episodes in the history of educational institutions raise concerns on the question of women’s safety in educational institutions. Delhi University has catered to a diverse plethora of students including women from all parts of the country in search of quality education and better opportunities, however, the sexist sentiments rampant in the atmosphere have repressed and subsumed the very aspirations and struggles of these women.
There has been less than adequate provision of safe accommodation for girl students, especially in the form of hostels on campuses. All these instances (and others) display abhorrent glimpses of misogyny, reflecting itself in the treatment of women as mere objects of desire. While the recent incident in Miranda House has certainly re-opened the discussion regarding this issue, it has been an ongoing cycle across all the colleges according to some students.
The very fact that educational institutions have ceased to provide safe spaces for women opens up the scope for greater sensitization toward women’s issues. The main rationale behind the establishment of women’s educational institutions at Delhi University has been to ensure that women are able to seek quality education without compromising their safety. Looking at today’s context, it is indeed disheartening, to say the least, to see the opposite unfolding looking at the series of unfortunate incidents of mayhem and ignorance blinded by a misogynistic culture that has slowly but surely been repeated over the years. At this point, we need a systematic solution that involves more than educating boys because we need to start changing our mindsets because the current generation cannot change when society itself refuses to do so. The answers to this problem are uncertain. It is not a matter that can nonchalantly be brushed aside, but rather one that needs our collective cooperation.