DCW issues notice to police after men 'climb' walls of all-women Miranda House to see Diwali fest

The Delhi Commission for Women has issued a notice to the city police and Delhi University's Miranda House over allegations that men climbed the college walls to witness an open Diwali fest on the campus and indulged in "cat-calling and sexist sloganeering".

DCW chief Swati Maliwal questioned the security arrangements made by the college during the event.

"Men are climbing walls to forcibly enter Diwali fest at Miranda House, one of the most popular colleges of Delhi. The women have made serious allegations of molestation and harassment. We are sending notices to Delhi Police and college administration. How did this hooliganism happen? What were the security arrangements in place?" she said in a tweet in Hindi.

The students of the prestigious all-women college shared multiple videos on social media in which some men are seen purportedly scaling the boundary wall, roaming around on the campus and raising slogans.

"Many attendees of the fest, primarily men, went entirely out of control at this move and reacted aggressively when the administration prevented them from being on campus. They entered restricted premises like classrooms, ignored the requests of professors and staff, responded rudely to appeals to behave and invaded the students' personal space," the college's Women's Development Cell said.

Police said no complaint regarding the incident has been received so far. However, they responded to the videos on social media and said "some students (3-4) were trying to enter the college" but they were stopped, and the October 14 Diwali programme remained "incident-free".

There was no response from the college administration despite repeated attempts.