Holi hooliganism: Women say police has failed to protect us

New Delhi: In the wake of incidents of harassment of girl students ahead of Holi, a group of students and professors of Jesus Mary College on Thursday staged a demonstration near Delhi police headquarters alleging “lack of” comprehensive measures by the force.

The protestors demanded stringent action against hooligans who have been targeting women with water balloons and semen-filled balloons ahead of Holi.

“In many parts of Delhi, the occasion of Holi has been misused to physically assault women and young girls with semen-filled balloons. We are approaching you with a strong appeal for adequate policing and patrolling and for more pro-active measures because we strongly feel these are lacking,” a memorandum submitted to the police commissioner said.

On Wednesday, students of Delhi University’s Lady Shree Ram College for Women alleged a series of balloon-flinging incidents.

A BA history student of the college also alleged “semen-flinging” at the Old Double Storey area near Amar Colony. Five days ago, a student of the same college had alleged “semen-flinging” and narrated her experience on the social media.

In the series of incidents, a student of Jesus and Mary College (JMC) became the victim.

“Till yesterday, I had only heard about semen flinging at girls, which broke my heart. Today, when I was the victim, I wholly realised and understood the absolute depravity of human beings. I would have said humans behave like animals, but then that’s a disgrace to animals in itself,” she wrote on Facebook.

Protesters raised slogans against the police and said little initiatives were taken by the Delhi Police to create awareness. “A lot of harassment happens on buses and we are shocked to find that as a run up to Holi, the proposed marshals in DTC buses are missing.  No police teams have been interacting with women students. There is also no visible campaign by the Delhi Police to caution people against such behaviour,” said Maya John, the college professor.

The police’s failure to act promptly against such hooligans has only made the situation worse, she added.

Some of the other demands were, prevention of unruly Holi processions, direction to DTC bus drivers to flag Holi celebrations inside buses, instruct residents associations and locals to actively discourage “hooliganism” and harassment of women. “There should be ban on sale of balloons and harmful chemical colours in Delhi-NCR prior to Holi,” the memorandum said.