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DU students thrashed by Bouncers

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Four students of the University were allegedly beaten up the bouncers of a cafe in the Hudson Lane which lead to 200 students turning up in solidarity for the victims. The said victims have been discharged after due treatment; an investigation regarding the accused is still underway.

On Wednesday, 23rd October 2019, a Police Control Room (PCR) van received a call at 8.30 p.m. regarding a tussle that had broken out in a cafe at north-west Delhi’s Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Nagar. In one of the many cafes that line the streets of GTB Nagar or Hudson Lane, four Delhi University students were injured after they were hit allegedly by bouncers over the volume of music.

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The ‘Housefull Cafe Lounge’ where the incident took place. Image credits: Prakash Ranjan

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-West) Vijayanta Arya, made a statement on Thursday morning regarding this incident and said that no arrests have been made so far. The recent developments are that an investigation is still underway, pertaining to the incident.

The incident happened when a 24-year-old student, of the University of Delhi’s Law Faculty, Samar Singh, was celebrating his birthday with 30-35 friends at Housefull Cafe Lounge. The group had asked the staff to increase the volume of music and to change the song, to which they disagreed. An argument broke out between the two groups which turned into a physical fight. This is when the bouncers intervened. The students claimed that they were attacked by the bouncers outside the location and beaten up badly.

Ms. Arya said, in conversation with The Hindu, that the four injured students were taken to a nearby hospital where they were discharged after treatment.

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Victim’s treatment underway. Image Credits: Prakash Ranjan

Victim Samar Singh had called the police and submitted a complaint at GTB Nagar police station after which a case under the Sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 34 (Common intention) of the Indian Penal Code have been registered.

“Two bouncers have been identified but are absconding. Teams are working to nab them.” Ms. Arya added.

After the incident, around two-hundred students turned up at Kingsway Camp to protest and express solidarity at the incident. Images of the victims as well as messages calling for media persons in the vicinity to join the protest, were doing the rounds by the end of the night on Wednesday. In conversation with a national daily, ex-Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) President Shakti Singh alleged, “Police did not cooperate in the matter and were shielding the accused instead.” The students only left after the police assured them that proper action would be taken in the case. The GTB crossing had been occupied for more than three hours.

The police also notified that a case had also been filed against the bar owner for not carrying out verification of his employees.

Feature Image Credits: Prakash Ranjan

Bhavya Pandey

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Admissions 2019

DU’s New Mechanism Against Ragging and Harassment

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The University of Delhi (DU) is all set for the commencement of the new academic session that officially starts from the 20th July. The varsity has issued guidelines to curb ragging in the campus.

All admission formalities have been completed and the orientation sessions of various colleges and departments are going on in full swing. Keeping in mind the past experiences and instances of ragging, misbehaviour, unruly activities, and harassment; activities that have landed prestigious colleges of the University in untoward situations, the Executive Council (EC) of the varsity held a meeting on 20th June to discuss possible solutions.

The prime suggestion brought up at the meeting was of collaboration with the Delhi Police to have and extra-vigilant surveillance system in all colleges. This was followed by several rounds of written conversations between the Council and the Commissioner of Delhi Police. The Delhi Police, welcomingly, has set up two joint control rooms, one each in North and South Campus respectively, for the introductory week of this session, i.e. from 20th to 27th July. This decision aims to ensure that anti-ragging and anti-harassment measures are strictly implemented by the police personnel on duty, as well as the college authorities. This is a landmark change that the security system has undergone with the commencement of this academic session.

The following are the key policy changes that have been taken by the EC to tighten the security management in the DU colleges.

Police Pickets in Every College
The University has decided to set up police pickets in every college individually to add extra vigilance and surveillance in pursuit of ‘Zero Tolerance to Ragging’. Anybody found indulging in an act of ragging or harassment will be dealt with as a criminal by the police personnel on duty, and will have to face legal consequences that may include suspension and might extend to rustication from the college, or blacklisting in the University for three years.

Provision of Lodging Complaints on Fast-track
Apart from the Joint Control Rooms and police pickets, the students can also lodge written complaints against ragging or any kind of harassment in any of the complaint boxes in the colleges. The EC has made it mandatory for all Head of Institutions to mandatorily check these complaint boxes at the end of each working day and take fast-track action, if needed.

Moreover, special anti-ragging helplines have been provided with extra executive staff to attend to the SOS calls more efficiently and quickly.

The Helpline Number for North campus is 011-27667221 and for South Campus is 011-24119832.

Mandatory Undertakings from Every Student and Guardian/Parent
DU decreed that it will be mandatory for all students seeking admission to any DU college, as well as their guardians, to sign a mandatory anti-ragging affidavit. This undertaking clearly states the possible consequences that any kind of involvement in, or supporting of, any sort of ragging can attract.

Increased Mechanised Surveillance
The sensitive areas in and around all colleges (washrooms, hangout spots, canteens and cafes, and lawns) have been put under higher surveillance, and the number of surveillance devices have been increased.

These security measures will be implemented from the new academic session that starts from the 20th July and will aim at the smooth and steady transition of freshers to the colleges.

We wish all freshers good luck for the start of their college experiences, and we hope it makes for a good one!

Feature Image Credits

Yaksh Handa

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Cluster Innovation Centre

Miscreants Stalk Female Students, Try to Beat up a Faculty Member who Comes to Their Defence at Cluster Innovation Centre

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In another incident of hooliganism on the University campus, miscreants tried to beat up a female faculty member who came to the defence of her students.

On 30th August 2017, two female students complained about constant harassment and gawking they were being subjected to by an outsider, who was coming to the Cluster Innovation Centre’s canteen for the last couple of weeks. After getting a complaint, one of the faculty member confronted the guy and asked him to not to avail canteen services on the grounds of the complaint and the fact that canteen is open only for CIC students, faculty and workers. The accused apologized and left the CIC premises.

Next day, on 1st September, a group of 7-8 people barged in the canteen despite clear restrictions of no outsider entry. When they didn’t leave after over an hour and intimidated the canteen workers, the canteen worker complained to the faculty. The faculty member, who confronted them a day before, asked them to leave again and within minutes the encounter became violent. The miscreants boasted about their authority aggressively and insulted the professor.

The miscreants also tried to beat up a student who tried to record the entire incident on his phone. “They were speaking to the professor very disrespectfully, so I stepped in and told them to tone down. They didn’t stop so I sneakily started recording them. One of the guys noticed and they came after me, started pulling my collar,” says the student who was assaulted by the miscreants. “Later the guys closed the canteen door and threatened the workers to not serve anyone,” says Lalit Bod, a student who was an eye witness to the incident.

The security guards who tried to save the student were also roughed up in the process of protecting the student. The miscreants left the spot after the incident and later returned with canes and lathis and tried to beat up the teacher. They were stopped by the students who were present at the spot and intervened to protect their teacher from getting beaten up. “While I was standing near the lobby, I saw these miscreants coming towards the teacher with lathis. Immediately I and some of my friends rushed towards him and overpowered him. Then we took him away from the teacher”, says Siddharth Nandan, one of the students who intervened to save their teacher. Later all the miscreants fled from the spot.

Delhi Police has taken cognizance of the offence and registered a FIR for the case. “A case has been registered and we are investigating the matter,” said Pradeep Narwal, DCP of North Delhi.

After the incident, the CIC administration has put up a notice banning everyone from the campus after 7 PM. This notice has put many students who used to stay till late evening to work on various projects and assignments at a problem. “We used to watch lectures and use internet facilities for our academic work. Now sadly, we have to suffer for the work of miscreants,” said one of the final-year students who did not wish to be named. “The administration should not restrict the students, it should rather curb the illegal entry of outsiders,” he said.

Meanwhile, teachers and students are hopeful that the administration will take up the issue with police, and ensure that the safety of the students is maintained on the campus. Prof. H.P Singh, the director of the centre, refused to comment on the issue.

Image credits: DU Beat

Srivedant Kar

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Niharika Dabral

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DUB News

19 year old DU student commits suicide

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In a tragic turn of events, a 19 year old student from University of Delhi allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in North Delhi’s Burari, as the police said on Wednesday.

The student, Hijam Bharat Singh, a second year student of Satyawati College hailing from Manipur, was found hanging in his flat by two of his relatives on Tuesday.

DCP Jatin Narwal said the deceased was staying with two of his relatives Rohin and Gautam, at a rented accommodation in Sant Nagar. He allegedly hanged himself, when they were out, leaving behind no suicide note at the spot.

“The incident came to light when they returned to their flat around 9.30 pm and Singh did not open the door. They peeped in through a window and saw his body hanging from a ceiling fan,” an officer told the Indian Express.

“The crime forensic team of north district was also called to lift fingerprints from the spot. The body has been preserved at the mortuary for the post-mortem and police have initiated an inquest proceeding into the matter under Section 174 of CrPC,” the officer added in his quote to the Indian Express.

Police said they are scanning his cellphone to ascertain the reason for the alleged suicide.

Feature image credits – Old Disgruntled Bastard

Ankita Dhar Karmakar

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Ramjas College

DU tense with stifled protests; protestors assaulted and detained

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The north campus of the University of Delhi was tense on February 22 with violence breaking out inside the Ramjas College campus, outside the college, and later in the evening in front of the Maurice Nagar police station. After the violent intervention by the ABVP of an academic conference in Ramjas College on February 21, a common students and teachers protest was set to take place the next day, on February 22, against the intervention. ABVP’s reason for obstructing the conference was the presence of Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid, JNU students, who were amongst the speakers at the conference. Umar Khalid was arrested on sedition charges in 2016, however no charge sheet has been filed in the case yet.

February 22, 2017:

The common students teachers march was scheduled to start at 1 p.m. but was blocked by he ABVP. Before the march, as an extra security measure, guards at Ramjas College checked ID cards to ensure that only students of the college were allowed to enter. What was supposed to be a peaceful march around the campus was cut off by the ABVP as they began shouting slogans like “Bharat Maata ki jai” and ” Vande Mataram” in the sutta lane within the Ramjas College campus. In response, the student and teacher protestors sat down and began their own chants of “Hum honge kaamyaab ek din” on a lawn adjacent to the ABVP gathering. Within a few minutes of this standoff, members of ABVP were seen entering into the lawn space where the students were gathered. There are eyewitness accounts and videos floating on social media of the ABVP activists beating, shoving, and grabbing the students gathered. The police intervened immediately and the students shifted towards the canteen premises.

The protest march being blocked by ABVP activists and supporters
The protest march being blocked by ABVP activists and supporters

A large gathering of students sat down in front of the canteen and under the conference hall. Reports came in of a large number of protesters consisting of students, teachers and activists gathered outside the college gates. Students and teachers who were inside the college sat down in silent protest. The police tried to form a barrier between the two groups. The ABVP activists repeatedly tried to break the barrier and attack the students. Fearing escalating violence, the police escorted the students out through the back gate where they were transported to the metro station in Civil Lines.

Meanwhile, outside the college, students and teachers who had congregated for the protest march, and journalists covering the issue, encountered ABVP activists. There are videos and evidence of students and faculty members being injured during this encounter. Around this time, roads leading to the Maurice Nagar police station were blocked by the police and shopkeepers around Patel Chest area were asked to bring down their shutters. The protest reached the Maurice Nagar police station area after 3 p.m., where police had been deployed to keep the violence from escalating and forming a barrier between the two sides. The protesters placed themselves outside the police station, demanding that an FIR be lodged against the violence committed by the ABVP. Slogans like “Aar ho ya paar ho, aaj FIR ho” were heard from the protesters’ sides.

Protestors in front of Maurice Nagar police station on February 22
Protestors in front of Maurice Nagar police station on February 22

At around 6.30 p.m., just after protesters were speaking to the police about their demands, a commotion broke out as the police surrounding the protesters started absconding them, in some cases with unnecessary force. The protesters were rounded up in police buses and taken to different corners of the city in an attempt to break up the protest on campus. They were dropped off later in the evening. There were reports and rumours of a potential ‘witch-hunt’ by ABVP members around the campus in search of people at the protests. No such incidents were confirmed.

February 23, 2017:

Another peaceful protest was organised today by the students and teachers at the Delhi Police Headquarters in ITO with heavy police presence around the area. Hundreds of students attended the protest, where sloganeering was heard and protest signs could be seen condemning the police brutality against student protesters yesterday. An exit gate at the ITO metro station was closed around noon. The protesters pushed for an FIR to be lodged and for a meeting with the police officials. After meeting with the students, who wanted separate FIRs to be lodged against the ABVP members who engaged in violence, the police informed them that separate FIRs cannot be lodged and they would need to be clubbed under one FIR. The student protesters then took the decision to have affected students write down testimonies of violence committed against them, with which they’ll approach other authorities given the contention between their demands and the police’s stance.

The police has admitted to the use of excessive force against students on February 22nd. The case related to the entire incident has been transferred to the Crime Branch. They also invited students to submit their complaints to the police which can then be clubbed together.

The student protesters are reportedly upset about the incident being branded an ABVP-AISA clash and the protesters being clubbed together as AISA members. They have called these protests movements by the students and teachers of Delhi University, and not a political party. The protesters comprised of students from across Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and other institutions across Delhi, with supporters of various movements and parties, and many with no political affiliations.

There were other protests in North Campus as well, with NSUI carrying out their peace march from the Arts Faculty to the Maurice Nagar police station, and the ABVP continuing their stance of protesting against ‘anti-national’ activities and elements. There were reports of considerable police presence around the campus.

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DUB Speak

Delhi Rape Case – Who is to Blame?

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The recent developments in Delhi were appalling; and unfortunately, they are the dire reflection of our society. I am the part of the city-Delhi where we actively encourage and assist inhumane violation of our women. To serve the purpose, our supreme police force works around the clock to actively remove any encumbrance to the rape of a woman. Here, we welcome you to satiate your most carnal desires and we find them justified! After all we are the rape capital of the world and we thoroughly believe in “if it is consensual, it ain’t fun.”  Here, women get raped, bystanders look on and the help-lines don’t work!

The article 21 of the constitution gives us-the women, the right to bodily integrity- right to life and liberty to men and women both alike. But does that extirpate such crimes like molestation, does that promise a safe haven for us. I feel scared to walk on the roads now, after it is dark. Men can get drunk, and go out at night alone, wear what they want, and get in a car with any number of people of the same or opposite gender without the inherent risk of being assaulted, but women have to take precautions not to do the exact same things, then women are not free, and certainly not equal. Everyday women have to think how to avoid such tragedies; we may rise to the highest positions in business and academia, but we cannot walk in a skirt late in the evening, and rely on our police forces. Yes, indeed we are talking of gender equality.

Blame the victim- defence of the defenceless! We are asked to take precautions, not from bombs and bullets, but men! Ours is a civilised society, a free democratic society, where half of the population is expected to behave and dress up according to the other half. Am I really free if I am asked to restrict myself to prevent from being attacked by other members of the same society?  This is outrageous.

And the response this incident has evoked is despicable. My Facebook wall was swarmed with posts that condemn the victims, for being out late at night, for wearing provocative clothes, for wearing heavy make-up, for having male friends. There are people out there who believe that a woman would deliberately provoke a sexual assault! As if being a rape victim was so much fun. Rape is always unwanted, always uninvited! Rape is the most heinous crime. A woman that gets raped remains brutally scarred for her entire life. Frankly, I don’t understand why we debate that what-was-she-wearing?, what-time?, must-have-gotten-him-aroused. Rape is hardly about sex and it’s almost always about exerting power. Girls as young as 2 years old get raped, young boys get raped. What’s the arousal thing involved here? Civilised men should take a stand against it instead of justifying and blaming the victim.

And rhetoric in the parliament will not solve the problem, but stringent laws and prosecution will. Because the ones who commit the crime are very well aware of the loop-holes in our judicial system, which they conveniently exploit and then get away with horrendous crimes like rape.

In fact, in most of the rape cases that go to trial, only a handful is such in which the rapists are convicted.  In Mohd. Habib v/s State, the Delhi High Court allowed a rapist to go scot-free merely because there were no marks of injury on his penis- which the High Court presumed was a indication of no resistance. The most important facts such as the age of the victim (being seven years) and that she had suffered a ruptured hymen and the bite marks on her body were not considered by the High Court. Even the eye- witnesses, who witnessed this ghastly act, could not sway the High Court’s judgment.  Another classic example of the judicial pronouncements in rape cases is the case of Bhanwari Devi, wherein a judge remarked that the victim could not have been raped since she was a dalit while the accused hailed from an upper caste- who would not stoop to sexual relations with a dalit.

The constitution did witness amendments in the rape laws in 1983 but there is a need to commute life imprisonment to capital punishment in rape cases. The idea is simple, remove the weed and let the society grow undeterred. Castration (removal of male sex organ) was suggested by Delhi Judge Ms Kamini Lau and we would love to have a law that allows us to bobbitize or stone them to death, but our legal system will not. Capital punishment is possible, like in case of Dhanonjay Chatterjee and if not, then the least they could do is sentencing them to solitary confinement, for life, without bail. Every single day in darkness and isolation, till death.

But now they are resorting to stupid band-aid tactics…Banning tinted glasses as if all rapes happened in buses! The big tank of crime is leaking from all corners, but our government and law will prefer to put a little bit of plaster to temporarily deal with one little crack. And that is because they have been so accustomed to doing nothing that now when the people are angry and demanding action, they resort to such stupid solutions! But I am glad the people are angry, I am glad we are voicing our concerns in as loud a manner that our leaders cannot ignore.

Skipping the blame-game, let us think beyond punishments. What can we actually do? As a parent, I would regularly talk and watch over my children, not making topics like sex, rape a taboo but talking openly about it. As a teacher, I will constantly show the right path to my children. As a friend, I will be a good moral support; I would never let my friend indulge in anything that is faintly equivalent to harassing. As police, I will give a sense of security to the citizens. As a politician, I would work to uplift the nation. And as a society, I will contribute to create a healthy environment, reject those who cannot respect all sections.

I will be the change that I want to see.

 

Guest writer – Megha Baid, LSR

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News

Ramjas in murky waters

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The principal of Ramjas College would have breathed a huge sigh of relief when every subsequent revelation pertaining to the fake admission scam left him unscathed. However, one shouldn’t suffer with a guilty conscience for long and therefore the principal has joined the ranks of the co-accused. Naresh Tau, admission scam mastermind spilt the beans when he told the police that he gave Rs 80,000 and a bottle of Johnnie Walker to ensure the fake admissions met with no resistance from within the college, to college principal Rajendra Prasad. Although the Principal has denied allegations, he has been charge sheeted in the case filed before the Tis Hazari Court.

Delhi Police believes that in the last two years 36 students have gained admission in the college using forged mark sheets. As a result, 28 charge sheets have been filed wherein several admission committee members of the college have been named as suspects including the convener PK Malhotra along with the “dealing assistants” who handled the admissions in the absence of the teaching staff. The police have identified discrepancies and “mistakes” which would be more compatible with a fixed cricket match. Shockingly, the admission committee overlooked conspicuous misprints in the mark sheets. What is amazing to note is the fact that the staff signed on admission forms backed by mark sheets that had misspelt ‘ninety’. Hence it is apt that a charge sheet says, “It seems that staff of the admission committee has benefitted the accused knowingly.”

As far as the Principal is concerned however, the charge sheet indicting him also mentions “no evidence yet” on his role in the scam. The scamsters, including several former and current Ramjas students, charged exorbitant amounts from students ranging from 1 to 6 lakhs to forge their mark sheets.

It seems as if the admission sham is getting murkier by the minute with skeletons tumbling out of the closet as every revelation comes along. What remains to be seen is whether the Principal manages to clear his name once this shameful affair is over and done with.

 

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