The University of Delhi has once again found itself amid another controversy; owing to a series of thefts that happened within many college premises during the most recent semester examinations. This has raised questions about negligence and disregard for student safety on the university’s part.
On 10 December 2024, several students at Kirori Mal College reported having had their phones stolen. This took place during the semester-end examinations for undergraduate students at the University of Delhi. The students reported being disappointed by the college administration and forced to act independently. Numerous instances of stolen goods at Shyam Lal College, Kirori Mal College, and a couple of others were reported in the last two months. One of the faculty members themselves has reported having had their laptop stolen from within the college staff room.
During our examination, I and a few other students had our phones stolen from them, from outside our classrooms where we were told to leave our bags,
one of the affected students remarked, clearly frustrated with what had gone down.
The Kirori Mal incident saw over half a dozen people lose their phones in a couple of hours. The administration faced criticism, given its allegedly reckless, waiting-for-a-disaster approach to safety, as they had not installed the required number of security cameras. Kirori Mal College only had one camera for the entire floor where the incident occurred. As shared with us by one of the victims, Dinesh Khattar, the principal at Kirori Mal College, allegedly refused to take responsibility and instead used the “government-funded” rhetoric at the students in an attempt to deflect any blame that could have been put on them.
Given that we are a government-funded institution, we cannot afford to install more security cameras than we already have. The students were, in any case, warned not to bring their phones on the back of their admit cards,
the students reported the principal saying when we discussed the administrative response.
The crucial detail in the admit card as mentioned by the principal has an intriguing piece of ambiguity attached to it, as the students pointed out. It does warn students against having phones inside the “examination hall” but never quite distinguishes between what qualifies as an examination hall and what doesn’t. One’s assumption would naturally be that the classroom is their designated examination hall, but not if we go by the administration’s alleged words. These students could not afford to leave their phones at home, as most spend hours on daily commutes, often getting home very late.
Moreover, worsening the fiasco was an alleged confession. Speaking to us, one of the first-hand witnesses and victim alleges that they heard one of the staff members joking about the fact that the thefts happened much earlier than they usually do during exams. This alleged blatant disregard, despite being aware of the situation, comes off as negligence of the highest order, which is only paving the way for more such cases, the affected claimed.
Furthermore, the alleged narrative that the college is publicly funded, as spun by the administration, begins to lose steam once we look at where the money is being used. The college is rebuilding its auditorium, which is estimated to cost nearly 10 crores, and regularly invests heavily in events centring around high-profile names. A lack of pressure from the student body to install additional security cameras and security guards to prevent something of this magnitude from happening again is also partly to blame, an inquiry revealed. Many claim that the highlighted failure of the student body is a downward spiral that youth politics in India has found itself stuck in, in the last few years.
Featured Images Credit: The Indian Express
Yash Raj
