“The desire for nights where the moon and the star is not glimpsed through barbed wires, where the sky is not forbidden through rods, through gates and locks” –  Pinjra Tod

Pinjra tod an autonomous women collective, organised a Night march in the North Campus of University of Delhi on 23rd of September. A large number of students participated to support the campaign.

The march was primarily organised to reiterate and implement the new UGC circular against sexual harassment. It also demanded a regulation of the exorbitant fees structures of hostels and PG’s.

A night mass of women and men, took to the streets at night and marched from Arts Faculty of Delhi University to Miranda House Hostel, Meghdoot hostel, UHW, hostels of Hindu, Hansraj and St Stephens college. They marched sloganeering through areas such as Malkagunj, Kamla Nagar and Vijay Nagar. In some cases, they climbed up the locked gates of some hostels and shouted slogans against moral policing by wardens and restrictions put on movement of women by discriminatory hostel curfews.

In spite of problems caused by some ABVP members, the march carried on for quite long in the night which was followed by a night vigil at Vijay Nagar.
The group also sung songs, recited poetry and danced to reclaim the night and call it their own. The mood of the march and vigil was of a serious celebration. It exercised and celebrated the freedom that Pinjra Tod demands for women and was a way of militantly reclaiming the streets denied to women at night in the pretext of ‘security’.

Featured image credits: Pinjra Tod: Break the Hostel Locks/Facebook

Tooba Towfiq
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