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DRC Hostel Continues Ill-Practices Despite HC Inspection

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The Daulat Ram College hostel residents continue to suffer at the hands of their matron as the HC Inspection is underway.

Unhygienic toilets, walls crawling with roaches and semi-cooked food, the tyranny of the Daulat Ram College hostel towards its residents continues.The residents of Daulat Ram College hostel have been protesting for months against the warden and the matron. Facilities in the hostel are in deplorable condition along with incessant moral policing and sexist comments.


In February residents of the hostel marched to the Vice Chancellors office and staged a sit down, demanding their rights. The Delhi High Court, finally intervened in the matter.During the inspection by court commissioners, allegations of harassment over social media posts and usage of makeup were reported.

In the detailed report by Nandita Rao and Shubham Mahajan, acute shortage of toilets and it’s facilities were reported. The rooms too were found to be in dilapidated condition.

An aura of fear and hatred surrounds the hostel, “The condition of the hostel is terrible. What is really disheartening is that one can bear the effect of the lack of infrastructure to some extent but the fact that there is nothing space for even mental relaxation is traumatizing. Several students are having anxiety issues and the matron doesn’t seem to care even a tad bit.” said, a second year resident of the hostel.

Another resident who chose to stay anonymous elaborates on the moral policing and harassment, “the matron takes printouts of social media pages like Instagram and shames the women. Her sexist remarks are nothing new.”

“It’s almost like she’s taking revenge” continued another student, “the washrooms were filthy before the protests and HC inspection, now they are worse. The food has affected my health. I can’t go back to the hostel, it’s a horrific place. It has affected my mental and physical health”.

The matron, Dr. Sushma Tandon has been the hostel matron for over 40 years has had compliance against her earlier as well. The tumultuous and tyrannical atmosphere has barely given students space to breathe.  

“The HC inspection took place about a month ago, and the commissioners who came were really helpful and sweet, and more than that understanding. But between the inspection, and the submission of this report, the SC gave a stay order to the current warden, which made the students lose all hope.” The matron has now reportedly resorted back to harassing students and students are forced to pay the mess fee which they had boycotted during the protests. The verbal abuse too, has ensued.

Students regret ending the protest too soon. “We had help from Pinjra Tod too however, we ended the protests too soon. Maybe that gave them an excuse to treat us this way”

The High Court has now directed the report should be placed before the Supreme court, which is hearing the matter relating to appointment of the girls hostel warden.

Image credits: DU Beat archives

Jaishree Kumar

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