Criminal Behaviour Against Girls at Reverie 2020, Gargi College. Admin stays silent!

Reverie, the Annual Festival of Gargi College, was our sacrosanct event, the highlight of the year during our college days not an event for goons to enjoy and grope women and follow them home!

Where even us as society members werent allowed entering without passes here we see men jumping into our college infront of the police personnel. In our days, entering without a pass used to be if not impossible, definitely a difficult task and certainly, getting groped and witnessing such unlawful behaviour was out of the question! To enter without a pass meant travelling back home and sourcing your identification card or beg for a pass from a college friend or missing it all together. As society members, we had to create guestlists for our attendees if they were more than one male attendee. What has happened at Reverie 2020 is absolute disgrace to the administration and the security protocols that were held sacred to the safety of an all-girls college were disrespected and absolutely abandoned endangering so many lives.

What has happened at Reverie 2020, Gargi College, Delhi University?

Sources have conveyed that while college societies had to submit guest lists for their attendees, a large bus parked infronf of the college gate and dropped off a huge gang of drunken and stoned men who entered Gargi without passes. If we look at protocol, passes issued by Gargi are a couple pass, only one man is allowed in using it and that too with the college girl present.

How did these men enter our premises while a large group of security personnel were present on-site to protect the rightful attendees and prevent such an incident to occur?

Above that, sources say, the now acting principal was approached where she dismissed the complainants saying that why do they even come such a festival if they are overly concerned about their safety?

Like really? I am shocked to the core if this is true! Nobody from the administration is talking about this incident.

Girls were groped, locked in washrooms, stalked to the nearby Green Park metro, cat-called, eave teased and misbehaved with during the festival.

We have proof showing boys/men jumping into the college from the side walls while the security is just standing there.

(watch my Instagram highlights - Fest for crime? @apurvahsahayaarzoo)

Men were allegedly shouting "Jai Shree Ram" slogans rendering us assuming Nazi-Hindutva BJP affiliations. We dont know how true this is as witnessed are scared to come forward.

Messages from witnesses explaining their horrific experience at Reverie 2020, Gargi College, Delhi University:

MESSAGE 1

"Hi, I'm S**** from second year.

I'd reached college around 4 and the moment I entered I had to push through to even make it till the crowd.

I had to find my friends inside and because of the network issue I couldn't connect.

I somehow found a girl who was also trying to locate her friends

Things got worse in about an hour and after that pushing through the crowd we had guys throwing the most obscene remarks and I remember this one guy who kept touching me and when I retaliated he and his friends smirked and told me how they wouldn't even mind sitting in my feet.

I was grabbed by men I couldn't even see and also had my skirt lifted along with being told how I was asking for it with the way I was dressed.We were shoved and pushed the entire time."

MESSAGE 2

"Gargi ki diwaaro pe se log kud ke ander aaye hai. I saw people coming from sirifort boundary.

When the fashion walk started, Poore crowd me esse ladke the jo walk karti hui ladkiyon ko action se apne pass bula rahe the. I witnessed it myself.it was not a single group. Poore crowd me alag alag jgha log the jo esse kar rahe the.. I was terrified after what I saw.

Glass eye member who was in the crowd and moving towards the barricades was not able to go. She was not able to breathe. I saw her. And I called her inside hues stall.

A girl from dyal singh college who was standing near hues stall started crying because of the men around her. We called her inside the stall and she was terrified.

Hum ne table se stall ko secure kiya hua tha and didn’t allow anyone to come inside. Jab vo out of control hogya we panicked. Hum table pe khade hue. We wrote society members here. Please send assistance. And sameeksha Tiwari( union member) ignored us. She was on the mike. Usne face dusri side kar liya Hume dekh ke.

When sheela mam saw us, she asked us to come to barricades. There was no way to walk in that pathetic crowd and reach the so called safer barricades. We shouted, we cannot come.

Then 2 union members came and we made the human chain. It broke. 2 of us and a union member were together. My juniors were left in the crowd. I told her the chain broke and she ignored that. I thank her for coming but we shouldn’t have left them in the crowd. They were 1st years. Over excited for the fest and it turned into a nightmare. Without networks we weren’t able to contact them.

Union member herself started crying when she came inside the barricades. Itne bure log the crowd me.

I met a girl at 10oclock in the metro. Usne meri jacket se pehchana and asked me,” you are from gargi. Right!” And said this is not the fest which we expected. I was gropped by men in the crowd.

I myself witnessed 3 auto wallas in the crowd near main stage at 4pm. We packed up our stall after seeing them in crowed. Hum retreat tak jaane se darr gaye the. Table lagaya stall secure karne k liye. We called the girls inside the stall. (gargi girls and girls who were suffering and crying who were in reach).

Only 2 of us were the third years in the stall and it was our responsibility to secure the kids.

Union was 15 people. We don't expect union will be able to rescue us. But you are elected for a reason and you should tell the authorities that they were under prepared. And why did they opened the gates of gargi for the crowd. I saw how people were coming inside gargi around 5- 5.30 PM WITHOUT PASSES, WITHOUT IDs AND AFTER 4.30PM (MENTIONED ENTRY TIME)."

MESSAGE 3

"A****** di,

This is G** from 1st year in your department and a very horrible incident happened in front of me last evening in the fest.

One girl was standing near the entry gate, and a group of guys walked passed her and threw money on her. It was humiliating to even watch and I could not imagine what the girl would have felt in that moment!

I would love to help the department to spread the awareness about the intensity of the issue and hope it reaches to the management authority."

Official statement given by students post this horrific event -

"In 2019, The annual fest of Gargi college saw a massive breach of security. The paucity of bouncers and police inside and outside the college caused a rowdy crowd to enter the college. Post that, individuals present inside faced sexual and physical harassment. In light of the same, an official complaint was filed with the ICC. The complaint was dismissed as a mere security issue, not a sexual harassment complaint. Post that, no elections were held for the post of the student coordinator of the Internal Complaint Cell. The individuals involved in the administration of the ICC have been holding the post for more than 3 years, which violates the consitutional value of ICC.

In a follow up, a pass system was introduced this year. On the third day, only the men with passes were supposed to enter the college. However, after 3:30 pm, every ten minutes, crowds of 300-400 individuals would push the gates and enter the college. The administration also showed its laxity by opening gates from time to time. Although the entry was to be stopped at 4:30, the influx continued till late. The police force and the RAF did nothing to control the situation. The non teaching staff conveniently turned a blind eye to the situation.

Meanwhile, approximately 8000-10,000 individuals accumulated in the campus. The individuals jumped the gates, sat on the stalls of vendors, and damaged the property of Gargi actively. Men stood in gangs and ogled at women, groped them, tried to feel them up, pushed them, and touched them throughout the concert.

Aggrieved students went to the principal to receive her apathy and insensitive comments.

Communication became impossible. People formed human chains to move from one area to another.

After the concert was over, the men followed women, catcalled them, and forced them to reveal their names and Instagram ids.

When the students tried to approach the principal wrt what was happening on ground, she said that the students shouldn’t come to the fest if they felt unsafe."

What is the administration doing about this?

This is not what Gargi was, this definitely not what it stands for. We need answers!