New Delhi: As Holi comes closer, the city turns into an open field for harassment as people throw water balloons on passersby. The concept of consent vanishes under the garb of ‘Bura na maano, holi hai!’
Nivedita Singh*, a second-year student at Delhi University (DU), recounts her ordeal.
“My classmates and some of their other friends gathered outside my PG with eggs and asked me to come down. I was really sick that day and told them I’ll see them later. But they continued insisting. And when I did, they threw eggs at me and screamed ‘bura na maano, holi hai’ as they ran away.”
“In Kamla Nagar, we see loads of children and sometimes even young men coming near PGs to throw water balloons. Just yesterday, my friend and I were almost attacked. The attacker fled the scene after missing the mark… Even when there are kids throwing the balloons, their parents don’t stop them,” says Palak Jain, a second-year student at Ramjas College, DU.
Attackers, students say, roam around the area and throw balloons really hard at anyone and everyone.
“I was returning from my coaching classes. While passing through Shri Ram College of Commerce, I noticed some bikers racing through the streets and shouting ‘Bura na maano holi hai!’. They hit me with a water balloon on my back really hard,” says Harshvardhan Singh, a Botany student at Ramjas College.
Saloni Khandal, a political science student from Ramjas College, says that some men threw water balloons at her chest while she was walking back home.
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“They did it from very close by. I saw them flee even before I could process what had happened. That night, I noticed the same men roaming around my home. My cousin brother confronted them, to which they responded: ‘Sorry, aapki behen hai yeh nahi pata tha,” she said.
A woman who studies at Sri Venkateswara College recounts a similar story. “Usually, the men are at the corners of the streets, or on top of balconies, hovering around and waiting for people. My friend and I were hit by water balloons, and if we didn’t run, more balloons would’ve followed,” she said.
The scenario is not too different in Vijay Nagar – a neighbourhood in north campus – where residents have now become used to the harassment, which is often racial and targeted at a particular community.
Dzi*, a third-year student at Hansraj College, Delhi University, talks about being attacked by some men and lack of support from the police when she went to complain.
“My friend and I were walking through the streets of Kamla Nagar when a few men on a bike hit us with water balloons. When I tried to complain to the police, they normalised the harassment by saying this happens around Holi and advised us to carry sticks,” she said.
The plight of students from the northeast is two-fold, as the local residents, they say, see them as “outsiders”.
Noihrit Gogoi, a history student at Ramjas College says, “I was walking with my girlfriend when someone started hurling balloons at us. It’s common to see kids take part in it, but sometimes older men join in too. Often, they target students from the northeast since they look like ‘outsiders’. All of them have a smug look on their faces after doing it.”
The scenario goes beyond university campuses and student-dominated neighbourhoods.
“Holi has become an excuse to harass women. I boarded a DTC bus and water balloons were thrown at me from the gates of the bus. I was relieved that it was not urine, acid, or semen,” says Nikita Bhatia, a graduate from DU.
“I was cycling around my colony in Ghaziabad and a few men in a car hit me with a balloon, they then cussed at me while driving away. That’s how my Women’s Day went.” says Aditi Gutgutia, a student at Lady Shri Ram College for Women.
Delhi University, has had a history of protests against harassment against hooliganism during. In 1987, the vigilante group Goonda Virodhi Abhiyan would patrol the streets of Delhi on Holi to protect women from assault.
In 2018, students of Delhi University took to the streets to protest against the harassment during Holi after students from Jesus and Mary College, and Lady Shri Ram College were attacked with balloons filled with semen.
* Names changed to protect their identity.
Jaishree Kumar is a poet, student-journalist, and a failed musician. She tweets @jaikumar7_
Featured image credit: Unsplash (representative image)