Raising slogans against curfew timings for women students, the protesters walked around the campus and gathered outside the Arts Faculty.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Over 100 women students of Delhi University broke the curfew timings of their hostels and PGs to participate in a midnight march on Sunday around North Campus to “reclaim the streets at night”.
Raising slogans against curfew timings for women students, they walked around the campus and gathered outside the Arts Facultyr till 3 am.
Voicing concerns
The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) that planned the event said that it was organised entirely by women to give them a platform to voice their concerns and to empower them to take reclaim their freedom to move around at night.
“As a progressive students’ organisation of the country, we see the women’s night march as a testament to the resilience and strength of women in In DU, and the SFI hopes that the event will inspire more women to speak out against gender-based violence and work towards creating a safer and more inclusive society,” the SFI said.
One of the participants said that it is empowering to see women breaking curfew and reclaiming their right to move around at night. “DU is a progressive campus but have some regressive rules when it comes to women. We need to reclaim our right to move around freely,” said Mehina, a second-year PG student. She added that it was heartening to see so many women come together and share experiences of how they are locked up in their hostels.
While the Delhi police asked the gathering to disperse at 3 a.m, the girls said that since they had already broken curfew, they could not go back to their accommodation and the entire gathering moved to public park in Vijay Nagar where they discussed recent events, where men have tried to enter women colleges by scaling the boundary, and then left after sunrise. Last week, at IP College, some men tried to enter their cultural festival and last year in October, a similar incident happened at Miranda House during their Diwai Mela.
“The women’s night march is a strong statement that women demand the right to live without fear and to occupy public spaces without any restrictions,” said Samaa one of the organisers of the event.
Another participant said that the students also discussed the culture of moral policing at the university and how when they go to the police to report an incident of harassment, they are asked questions like what were they wearing, and why were they out at night and if their parents knew about their night-out.
“While we did not grant permission for the march, we provided security,” a police officer said. Over 15-20 police personnel, including women were deployed, the police said.
