Half-cooked meals, plates too small to serve young girls, lack of proper washrooms, authorities that stifle the life out of student. No, this is not Jane Eyre’s run-on-charity Lowood School from the 19th century, this is the state of affairs of a central university college in the capital of India, in the 21st century!
Daulat Ram College is one amongst the two women’s colleges in the North Campus of Delhi University. The necessity of mentioning the fact that it’s one amongst the two women’s colleges in North Campus is that Delhi University has its own culture of protest often marked by mass participation of women students. These range from poor infrastructure to moral policing and form an unending list. When I imagine an all women’s space, the first thing that comes to my mind is a safe space for women to thrive in. However, the question here lies in: safety at what cost?
Recently, the court commissioners who visited Daulat Ram College filed the report of their findings in High Court. The report revealed a “grim” picture of the facilities in the hostel these included “unhygienic toilets, dilapidated rooms, uncooked or semi-cooked food, primitive kitchen and wardens who spy on the social media accounts of women students.”
The report further reveals that women students were forced to remove lipstick and were subjected to harassment over social media posts. In addition to that, there were only 8 washrooms for a student population of approximately 200; most of the washrooms lacked proper lighting, had broken lamps and were unclean. When the hostel principal and warden were questioned, they denied most allegations and took to blaming one another instead.
Furthermore, it was noted that the students with disabilities were segregated in the hostel mess and when they wanted to sit with their friends they were scolded by the authorities. Hostel warden Kavita Singh denied the allegations and said that, “The allegations are levelled by a handful of students under some influence. I do not want to comment on this further.” The HC has directed that the report will be presented to the Supreme Court in relation to the appointment of the warden.
The infrastructure of the hostel requires immediate renovation, as was stated in the report itself. The rooms that were surveyed were found unfit for students with broken ceiling fans, air conditioner and the electricity remains one of the major problems. Bhaavya Singh, a third year hostel resident, told Campus Watch about how difficult it is getting because of the scorching heat. “My fan has not been working for a while, this is the second time that I’ve complained about the same to the hostel warden and it’s been days since we’re living like this. This is not the winter season that you can expect the students to live without fans, it’s 46 degrees outside! It’s the same problem with most of the air conditioners that have been placed in the hostel. Students have been complaining for a while now, but the issue remains unresolved as of yet,” she said.
The major problem arises when students have classes at 8:30 a.m. and the few washrooms available are all occupied. “Firstly, the washroom is not in a usable condition at all, the tiles are broken, the tap doesn’t work and, to top it all off, there are only 8 washrooms most of which lack a toilet. I usually get late for my classes because of this, but it’s not the fault of the students and still we are the ones who have to suffer,” Ashmita Rana, a second year hostel resident, told Campus Watch.
Wardens and moral policing remain the most complained about issue in the hostel. When the findings were going on for the same, most girls complained that the warden does not treat them with dignity. “The thing is that the warden’s authority should be limited to maintaining discipline within the hostel. But, here, it extends to controlling our personal life choices from our clothes to our friend circle. We are belittled for our life choices and our upbringing is questioned,” Aisha Tamang, a second year student of DRC, told Campus Watch. In response to the recent development she mentions that “now the warden has started talking to us properly but we don’t know how far that is going to last.”
The protest against the ruthless hostel administration came into light after the January and February protests by the students. However, this is not the first time that students from DRC are protesting against the unjust system.
In the year 2012, students had come out in protest against the humiliation and harassment they were subjected to when the second and third year students asked permission to use electronics like mobile phones or laptops within the hostel premises. These protests have been an ongoing struggle within the campus and sometimes, when they are not connected with wider public movements like Pinjra Tod, (in the context of DU) they do not receive the same coverage for that matter. In cases like these, coverage becomes an important issue because, had it not been for that, the situation might not have been taken to the High Court in the first place.
Note: The names of students who shared their comments with us have been changed to maintain their privacy.