The Indraprastha College For Women I Know: Notes of a Former Student

On 28 March, some men scaled walls of DU's IP College for Women, and allegedly harassed and assaulted students

(Trigger warning: descriptions of sexual violence)

On 28 March, 2023, a crowd of a few hundred men swarmed the gates of Indraprastha College for Women in Delhi, during the institute’s annual college fest. In a demonic serpentine mass, they pushed their way through metal barricades first and then the soft human barricade formed by a small group of students, teachers and a handful of security guards.

Others scaled walls from every direction, as purported videos of the incident show.

Students have alleged to teachers and some former students of the college that the men "wreaked large scale sexual violence, flung young women to the ground, mauled and groped them, untied their clothes, as they spat out mouthfuls of gutka and spouted the vilest of sexual epithets" at them. 

Some students were physically injured. In fact, one had her femur bone snapped and required surgery. The extent of the mental trauma, however, that these young women are likely to carry for years, perhaps forever, is irreparable.

'Insensitive, Apathetic Response of College Authorities'

I read the reports, looked at the photographs, watched the videos in horror and rage. But what made me incandescent was the insensitive and apathetic response of the college authorities. The event was allowed to continue, albeit a few hours late, and videos show the college Principal dancing in seeming gay abandon.

Over the next few days, the college summoned the Delhi police to dismantle protests held by the students whose only demand was an acknowledgement of the horrors they had been subjected to and redressal in the form of police action against the offenders.

The students were manhandled, flung into vans and carted off to a distant police station in Burari on the outskirts of Delhi, instead of the jurisdictionally appropriate Civil Lines police station.

The following day, the Principal called the police to create a human chain for herself, separating her from her own students who merely wanted an audience with her. They watched in dismay as she ran into her car and sped away.

In the midst of this, on 1 April, the college’s official social media handle shared photographs of its Principal on the night of the incident, beaming on stage, declaring the fest a “success” of “joy and happiness”. Her actions, or the lack of them, colour the photos with a particularly macabre filter.

'This is not the IP College I Walked into 35 Years Ago'

This isn’t my beloved alma mater, I thought to myself. This isn’t the institute that gave me the best three years of my life, one that sent me off into the world armed, not merely with a degree but with a mantle of self-assurance I hadn’t had before. This isn’t the Indraprastha College for Women I knew.

I first walked through its gates 35 years ago, a callow 18-year-old, beset with anxieties about myself. Like so many other young women, I had experienced all too many incidents of molestation in public spaces from a very young age and had taught myself to hide, to never draw attention to myself, never speak too loudly or to laugh aloud, to contain the body I’d grown to detest behind enveloping clothes and quiet movements.

I didn’t run and I never jumped. I had learnt to be vigilant at all times, darting my eyes and mind around to spot a potential assault. Indraprastha College for Women changed all that.

Within its gracious, colonial cream structures, amidst its beautiful gardens and grounds, surrounded by wonderful women - students and teachers alike - I learnt to breathe.

I climbed mulberry trees in its orchard for an evening snack, sprawled myself out like a starfish on the football field after dinner, giggling with my friends at the stars above. I did the Rumba in the rain on the hostel terrace, hopped around and pulled faces to make others laugh. I stretched myself out in an ungainly manner on the ground to paint a rangoli for a SPIC MACAY performance and I spoke confidently in class without fear of ridicule. For the first time that I can recall, I wasn’t a body with female parts. I was a person with a mind and a personality. And I was safe.

'What’s Changed in the Intervening Decades?'

While we never experienced mobs of marauding men violate our campus, I can recall at least two incidents where students suffered sexual violence. Not on campus but off it, in public transport buses, while travelling to college. In one, that I have first-hand knowledge of, the Principal took action immediately, cocooning the student with her presence and concern, calling for the police and ensuring that the student’s statements were recorded in her presence at her residence on campus, while sharply berating the police for any untoward questions.

Teachers rallied around, offering not only emotional succour but also showing us that we have the right to reparation, that we must not accept sexual violence perpetuated upon women in diminutive, dismissible terms such as “eve teasing”. This, despite the lack of any formal protocol or law laid out for colleges to handle such situations back then.

This too has changed. The first procedural guidelines to handle cases of sexual harassment at the workplace came with the Vishaka Guidelines promulgated by the Supreme Court in 1997.

They were superseded by the more expansive Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act of 2013. And University Grants Commission's Ordinance XV-D of 2015 extended the POSH Act to students and teachers in higher educational institutes.

Both POSH and Ordinance XV-D define sexual harassment and mandate detailed procedures that an “employer” - the Principal in the case of a higher education institute - must follow in every case, including the setting up of an Internal Complaints Committee that must act proactively step in when its members observe a case of sexual harassment, without waiting for a student to complain.

The fact that none of these procedures have been followed by the Principal in the incident at Indraprastha College yet, and the fact that she has made light of what transpired for hours that afternoon, has shocked me and scores of other alumnae and former professors.

'The Strongest Light: the Fortitude Displayed by IP College Students'

What is encouraging is the Delhi Commission for Women’s interim report on the incident, released on 11 April. It addresses the Principal, the Delhi police and the Delhi University while pointing at lapses which led to the incident, gaps in the police investigation so far and stringent recommendations for further action. This has come like a beacon of hope for many of us.

The strongest light though, shining through the almost physical miasma that has lingered since 28 March is the fortitude displayed by the young women of Indraprastha College.

I have read their social media updates, I have watched videos of them protesting the inaction, enduring physical discomfort, confidently asking questions of the authorities, fighting their way through apathy and insensitivity to ensure that the offenders are punished.

They have bravely banded together in adversity to create the kind of emotional and physical network of women that I was privileged to find 35 years ago and who still stand by me today. These students give credence to the founding members’ vision from 99 years ago - “to educate, enable, empower young women…to ensure justice and belief in self as women…”

THIS is the Indraprastha College for Women I know and treasure.

Rupal Vaidya is an artist. She graduated from Indraprastha College (English Honours) in 1991.