The final day of Nexus 2025 at Sri Venkateswara College saw unexpected crowd surges, security lapses, and logistical issues, raising concerns about event management and attendee safety.
Sri Venkateshwara College (SVC) hosted its annual fest, Nexus, from March 3 to March 5, 2025, bringing together students from across Delhi for three days of music, cultural events, competitions, and live performances. However, the third day in particular witnessed an overwhelming surge in attendees due to the much-anticipated concert by renowned singer Javed Ali with an estimate of over 6000 people inside the venue. The massive turnout quickly spiraled out of control, with people even jumping over the college fences in an attempt to enter the premises, leading to injuries, security violations, and more chaotic scenes at the venue.
Even though the official instructions stated that the college gates would be closed by 2 PM, they were shut as early as 1:45 PM, leading to a massive crowd gathering right outside the campus gate. Many students, including members of the organizing committee, repeatedly requested the guards to reopen the gates, but their pleas were ignored due to the already overwhelming number of people inside the college premises. The situation quickly turned disorderly as students found themselves trapped as those outside struggled to get in, while several inside were unable to leave due to the tightly packed crowd blocking the exit as the same gates were being used for both the entry and the exit. Moreover, the crowd outside the gates was so dense that students caught in the middle or near the front had no clear path to vacate the place either.
In conversation with DU Beat, a Delhi University student, Kalyani said,
The crowd was so packed outside the gate that even though we wanted to leave, we were trapped there for 3 hours outside the campus until the gates were reopened. Even though the police were trying to get people to leave, it was incredibly difficult since there was no way out of the crowd, making the entire situation a lot more suffocating.
Another student, who wished to remain anonymous, shared that beyond the suffocating conditions, the crowd was also unsafe with many female students facing groping and harassment. She said, “We noticed that no one was following the queue, and everyone had gathered at the gate, so we decided to join the crowd. However, the situation turned unpleasant as I faced a lot of groping and misconduct, which was horrible, but apart from that, once we were inside, it was fine.”
While many students blamed management, the organizers had a different perspective. Talking to DU Beat, Nandini Das, the Vice President of the SVC student union, stated,
Well, we had over 6000 students inside the campus area, and the same number of students were waiting outside the campus. As a union member, it was very tough for me as well as my fellow members to manage because we had a management team of at least 50-100 who were looking after a crowd of 6000 plus. But hopefully the police and CRPF had helped us a lot, and also the injured people were provided medical service immediately. And I think you can’t blame anyone for mismanagement because I do believe that you should have some civic and moral sense of how to behave in a public place. Out of 6000, if 1000 people are trying to violate the protocol, then I think it’s the individual who’s the problem.
However, students from SVC did have complaints regarding the management of the fest. Vanshika, another student of SVC, said, “It was very chaotic. The roads outside were blocked for over 4 hours, with even Venkateshwara students being stuck outside campus for hours. It should’ve definitely been managed better by either not allowing students from other colleges or by not making them stay outside for so long.”
Beyond the numerous issues faced by those stuck outside and the minor altercations that broke out on campus, there were also allegations of misbehavior by the management towards the media team. Aashvee, a videographer present at the event, revealed,
Despite having barricade passes for the star night as per the official Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), our team was subjected to harassment, humiliation, and outright negligence at the hands of the event’s so-called management. Random individuals, including non-students, effortlessly jumped over them and entered restricted areas unchecked. Meanwhile, our media team, stationed in the designated media section as required for coverage, was singled out and aggressively confronted by two members of the event staff.”
Overall, the last day of Nexus 2025 highlighted the difficulties of managing large-scale college events. Overcrowding, security lapses, and logistical challenges created a chaotic environment, leaving both attendees and organisers frustrated and raising concerns about safety. While efforts were made to control the situation, the incidents call attention to the importance of better planning and stricter crowd management in future fests.
Read Also: Security: The Overrated Inconvenience During Fests at Women’s Colleges
Featured Image Credits: Ayushmaan for DU Beat
Ashita Kedia
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