Miranda House: India inquiry after men crash women’s college event

Indian police have opened an investigation after a viral video showed some men scaling the walls of a women’s college in capital city Delhi.

The incident occurred during an event organised by students of Miranda House college.

A student who posted the video alleged that men entered the campus and did “cat-calling, groping, sexist sloganeering and more”.

The Delhi police have registered a case against “unknown students”.

Other videos shared on social media seemed to show groups of men climbing over a gate in the presence of a security guard and raising slogans on the campus.

The incident has sparked outrage on social media.

Swati Maliwal, chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women, said she has sent separate letters to the Delhi Police’s deputy commissioner and the principal of Miranda House over the incident – in them, she has asked a number of questions, including details of the police case and security arrangements made for the event, which had been organised to celebrate the upcoming Diwali festival.

The principal of the college told the Indian Express newspaper that though the event was organised every year, it was “never very big”.

There were “precautions and… police personnel” but “no one had anticipated or prepared for such a large number of students”, she said.

She added that the college would file a separate case after looking at CCTV footage and that the administration was “having several discussions now” to find solutions to prevent such incidents.

Miranda House is situated on the north campus of the prestigious Delhi university, which houses several other colleges.

This isn’t the first such incident at the university to spark protests and headlines.

In 2020, students of Gargi College alleged that dozens of men had forcibly entered their campus during their annual festival and “molested” students. Ten men were later arrested in connection with the incident.

In 2007, hundreds of students protested after some women from Indraprastha College were sexually harassed near the campus by a mob of men.