Usual Crime, Unusual Grounds!

Last weekend, a college organized their annual fest with much fanfare in city periphery. The event was to go on for two days, creative performances by students during the day and celebrity shows (they are a big crowd puller, and no college fest is complete without them) during the night. Students, teachers started planning much in advance. The lines of gender blurred as all creative minds came together, painted together, sang together, danced together. The atmosphere on the D-day was electrifying. Exuberance, anxiety, anticipation so palpable, so tangible. Everything went well until Saturday night when during a celebrity show, some perverted minds sought just the right opportunity to lay their dirty hands on some girls present there. It is very easy to become a faceless hand in the jostling crowd. They teased the girls, tore clothes of few of them and attempted molestation. Suddenly the whole atmosphere turned grey with lot of furor raised over this misbehavior. The zeal of festivity turned into commotion as students demanded the immediate and strict action against the accused. Under pressure, (yes only after the students went on strike!), college authorities filed a formal complaint with the police on Monday morning. The CCTV cameras came to the rescue and four students were identified and rusticated immediately. Three students have been arrested so far and fourth one has gone under the hiding.

You will probably shrug it off, what’s new about it. Reports of eve teasing, molestation at such events hardly make news. But irony of this whole situation is that theme of this event was ‘Crime against Women’. So much for creating awareness!

Students demanding action against guilty

Picture taken from: tribuneindia.com