Arrests After Mass Molestation At Gargi College, Students Continue Protests

Mass molestation at Gargi college will go down as one of the worst memories for women in Delhi University. Post a probe and an official complaint by authorities of Gargi College, Delhi Police has arrested 10 people for the case of mass harassment at Gargi College. Reportedly police has based arrests on 23 CCTV footages, three of these showed the college grounds where the festival took place on 6th Feb. Further, police has also deemed college authorities to be at fault. "Initial probe suggests the college was at fault. The college authorities had not informed the police about the festival," said a flash by wire service ANI.

PIL Filed

Meanwhile advocate ML Sharma has filed A PIL in the Supreme court seeking a CBI probe into the incident. He has claimed the incident to be a conspiracy of political parties to advance their agendas ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls. It urges the supreme court to direct arrests of all the accused.

“ To the C.B.I. to investigate, siege all video, CC TV records surrounding Gargi campus (inside and outside), arrest to the all accused person, including the political leaders behinds this planned criminal conspiracy, and file their report before this Hon’ble court for further action," the PIL noted.

The students union of Gargi College has since released a statement on instagram saying “this is our fight and we wish to keep it ours”. The statement further added that the students don’t want any outside interference for their 'personal matters' as a Fact Finding Committee (FFC) has been put in place to investigate Reverie’20. “We do not want any outsider to file any PIL for us” –said the statement by Gargi College’s student union.

DU issues advisory

After the mass molestation incident at Gargi, Delhi University has issued an advisory that asks all the principals to ensure the safety of women students and staff. The university has also asked for action reports for steps taken to ensure student safety within 2 weeks. Further, it has asked the principal of Gargi to provide an action taken report as well. The advisory also urged the police to take due action.

Statement of students

On Wednesday, February 12, students of Gargi continued their fight to have a safe college. A fact finding committee was elected that comprised of a student and a teacher representative from each course. The said FCC has started collecting evidences to investigate the incidents that took place at the cultural fest.

A statement by the student body reported that the principal responded to their demands and questions. However, students were unsatisfied. The budget of the college fest and it’s contribution to student security is yet to be released. Hence the students shall continue to boycott their classes.

Vipashyana Dubey is an intern with SheThePeople