Holi hooliganism on the rise

There’s a dark side to the festival of colours, and it is getting disturbingly darker. The streets of Delhi are witnessing a new level of hooliganism with women being hit by balloons filled with semen. A student of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, DU posted an account of semen flinging on her Instagram on Saturday. She was out with her friend in Amar Colony market of South Delhi at around 5 pm in a rickshaw when a liquid-filled balloon hit her. It was only after she reached home that she realised that the liquid was not water but semen.

Despite posing strongs risks of injury, water-filled balloons continue being flung at women in the run-up to Holi. Kunzes Angmo, a student of Chinese language at  Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, was hit by one while travelling in an auto a few days back. “It hit my eyes and my contacts fell out,” she shares. But Angmo refrained from complaining as she feels the exercise of filing an FIR is a whole lot of trouble with no results as the perpetrators invariably get away scot-free.

Knightengle Sahaji, a BA honours student in her second year at JNU, too has had her share of bad Holi experiences. “People have forcefully put colour on my face while trying to grope me.” She now avoids going out on the streets. She strongly feels that it is the inherent patriarchal mindset that is evident in these actions. “Why should women be stopped from having fun to prevent these incidents? Instead, stricter laws should be enforced,”she adds.

While Gunjan Tripathi, a BA honours student in History at Kalindi College, University of Delhi was lucky to escape Holi hooliganism, her friend wasn’t. “I am extra cautious these days while walking to college, and avoid going out at night,” says Gunjan who was out around seven in the evening with a friend who was suddenly hit on the head with a water balloon. Despite their giving chase, the miscreants escaped.

To prevent such harassment in the name of Holi revelry, a committee has been constituted to control untoward incidents in and around Kalindi College. Talking about lockdown of both government and private hostels and paying guest accommodations to prevent harassment, Gunjan says, “When girls face the brunt of Holi hooliganism, it leaves them no choice but to stay in lockdown. Rather than girls being confined indoors, shouldn’t it be the creeps who are locked up for their misdeeds?”

For many girls in the city, there’s no denying the reality of the roads being unsafe during Holi, and despite their strong demand for more strict and prompt action against miscreants, they feel it’s safer to exercise caution. Nandini Pokhriyal, a JNU student, avoids going out on the streets during Holi. “I prefer to celebrate it with my close ones or go out with family members if I have to.” She strongly feels Holi hooliganism should not be tolerated and lockdown of hostels and PGs is not the solution to it. “Women themselves need to be careful if such cases have been reported. One needs to file a complaint immediately if such an incident happens to them or if they witness someone else go through it. But authorities should stay especially alert during such festivities and beef up security measures.”

Avantika De, a BA honours student from JNU, says that despite strict rules to curb harassment, men get away with it and this in turn boosts their ego and confidence. “Our university ensures there is no issue of harassment, and if it does occur,  the redressal of the complainant is ensured. But restricting the movements of victims is the most idiotic solution. If men don’t know how to behave, then they better stay within the four walls and not us.”

Swarnalatha Iyer, consultant psychologist who was in Delhi in the 1970’s, says this unruly behavious in the name of Holi  revelry has been happening since ages. “Because of all the painted faces, it’s impossible to recognise the miscreant. Holi is not played in the spirit it should be played in. They exploit the situation saying ‘Holi hai’.”

People tend to play Holi with almost anything — from paint, shoe polish to cow dung — some of which can be harmful to the skin and cause allergies. “Physical complaints are rampant during this time. Water balloons thrown with force near the ear often lead to injury. Same is the case with certain colours and paints that cause serious allergies,” says Swarnalatha.

The problem, she feels, lies in men not having a sense of self-control, and this stems from how one is brought up. “If a family is travelling by bus and the girl child wants to go to the washroom, the mother often shushes her and tells her to control the urge. On the other hand, if it’s the boy child, he ends up urinating next to the bus. Thus, they are brought up with the sense that they don’t need to exercise control.”

She feels education is no longer the solution, “Education today is not teaching them values or life skills. It has become all about syllabus which is, in the end, not really useful as studies show that 93 per cent educated youth is not employable.” Today, the focus has shifted to the girl child with various schemes like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, but “there is a need to padhao (educate) the male child, especially in terms of social etiquette. Sadly, boys have been just let off with no sense of direction because the entire focus is on girls. Another reason why women empowerment is not happening even when they are economically independent because men still have the same attitude — they feel women should be looking after them and taking care of the family,” adds Iyer.

Swarnalatha Iyer, consultant psychologist

Student bodies and social campaigns are raising their voice against the much abused concept of Bura Na Maano Hoi Hai. Pinjra Tod, an autonomous women’s collective of students and alumni of colleges from across Delhi, that seeks to make hostel and paying guest (PG) accommodation regulations less regressive and restrictive for women students, staged a protest Bura Kyun Na Manoo in North Delhi yesterday — a rally across the gallis of Vijaynagar and Hudson Lane, to assert collective anger and resistance on the streets against this normalisation of sexual violence and harassment that happens every year.

Now women are opening up about the harassment they have faced on various social mediums, refusing the bogus rhetoric of moral security and policing that wants to lock them up in hostels and PGs. Women who attend coaching classes or work want roads cleared of the hooligans, sending out a loud message that they refuse to walk on the roads in fear anymore.