The Delhi High Court has ordered the Delhi Police, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), Delhi University and Indraprastha University to hold a meeting and come up with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for security measures to be put in place during college festivals. A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna passed the order while dealing with a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
“In the meantime, DCP (Legal) is directed to convene a meeting in which representatives IIT Delhi, Indraprastha University and Delhi University shall be called and SOPs shall be put in place to provide security measures for the annual college festivals organised by the colleges,” the Court ordered.
The PIL was initiated following an incident at IIT Delhi’s cultural festival, where female students of a Delhi University (DU) college were allegedly filmed while changing their costumes in the washroom.
As per a news report published in The Indian Express on October 9, 2023, a group of students from DU’s Bharati College who were invited to participate at a fashion show event, spotted an individual secretly filming them while they were changing costumes in a washroom. CCTV footage later revealed that the person in question belonged to IIT Delhi’s housekeeping staff.
When the matter came up for hearing today, the Court was told that the accused has been arrested and his phone has been sent for forensic analysis, as he had deleted the videos.
It was further said that the police have ensured that no videos or photos of the incident are uploaded online. Meanwhile, Delhi University, IIT Delhi and Indraprastha University said that they have filed their replies in the matter. The Court examined the reports and said that there is a need for comprehensive guidelines to deal with such incidents in the future. The Bench, therefore, ordered the respondents to convene a meeting and come up with SOPs.
