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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Friday last week directed the Delhi Police, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, Delhi University (DU), and Guru Gobind Singh 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 said, "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 was dealing with a suo moto plea relating to an incident wherein women students of Bharati College, University of Delhi were ‘secretly filmed’ in the washroom, while they were changing costumes during the “Rendezvous festival”, organized by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi on October 6.

During the hearing, the bench was apprised that the accused had been arrested and his phone had been sent for forensic analysis, as he had deleted the videos. It was further told that the police have ensured that no videos or photos of the incident are uploaded online.

Taking note of the submissions, the bench posted the matter for further hearing on January 22, 2024. 

Notably, on October 9, the high court took suo moto cognizance of the incident. The court took note of a newspaper article titled “Harassment at college fests leaves students anguished, shaken”, published in the Indian Express on October 9, 2023, which brought to the fore the “lapses in security measures” employed for annual college festivals organized by universities across the State, resulting in injuries, violations, and trauma for students attending such festivals.

On perusal of the newspaper article, a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula had noted, “During the Rendezvous festival, organized by Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi [IIT-D] on 06th October, 2023, a group of students enrolled in Bharati College, University of Delhi, who had been invited to participate in a fashion show event, spotted an individual secretly filming them while they were changing costumes in a washroom”.

The news report stated that upon reviewing the CCTV footage, the individual was identified to be a part of the IIT-D’s housekeeping staff.

“This episode has left the victims distraught, and has understandably raised concerns regarding misuse of the videos, including their circulation on various social media platforms”, the bench had said.

“In our opinion, it is imperative that adequate security measures are put in place, allowing the students to attend such events without any impending fear of experiencing such acts of violation. Thus, in view of the afore-noted episode, this Court deems it appropriate to take suo motu cognizance of the issue of security breaches, particularly in respect of female attendees, at the festivals organized by colleges/ universities in Delhi-NCR”, the bench had said.

The Delhi Police counsel Nandita Rao informed the court that a case had been registered under Section 354C of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the accused was currently in judicial custody.

“Let notices be also issued to IIT-D, University of Delhi, and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University”, the court had ordered.

Taking note of the “gravity and sensitivity” of the matter, the bench opined that immediate action was required. “Therefore, we consider it apposite to issue the following directions”, it had said.

The court had directed the Delhi Police to file a status report within two weeks from October 9 with details of the action taken against the accused associated with the incident at IIT-D on October 6, 2023.

“The Investigating Officer [IO] of the case at hand shall exercise utmost discretion during investigation and ensure anonymity of the women involved. Prompt steps shall be taken to prevent dissemination of photographs clicked / videos recorded by the accused. In the event such media is circulated on any of the social media platforms, the concerned Deputy Commissioner of Police as well as the IO are directed to undertake immediate steps for their take-down, in accordance with law”, the court had further directed.

Case Title: Court on its own motion v. Govt of NCT of Delhi & Ors