DU norms to curb untoward incidents keep fest organisers on short leash

Delhi University colleges will implement strict guidelines for cultural festivals, including security measures and limited attendees, starting in 2024.

As every new year begins, Delhi University colleges get in the thick of preparations for their respective cultural festivals, usually held between March and April.

However, from 2024, student bodies will organise their fests as per the latest advisory issued by DU Proctor Rajni Abbi.

Dated January 11, the advisory makes a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the police as well as a security liaisoning meeting with ‘other stakeholders’ like the Fire Department and the university mandatory for such events.

Other strict guidelines include entry through registration forms submitted to the police, limiting the number of participants based on the venue’s capacity, concertina wires on boundary walls, as well as installing CCTV cameras at hostel and college gates along with washrooms.

The advisory is a follow-up of a similar document issued last April in the wake of the incident at Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW) on March 28, 2023, when some men scaled the walls and harassed students at its fest ‘Shruti’.

DU has seen similar cases in recent times — several men trespassed into Miranda House in 2022 during its Deepavali fest and indulged in “cat-calling and sexist sloganeering”; in 2020, a few men harassed some attendees sexually at the ‘Reverie’ fest after breaking into Gargi College.

The university believes the advisory will make college spaces and fests safer for female students, who, however, said it restrains them from opening their campuses to peers from other institutions.