After repeated incidents of men targeting women from Delhi University’s Lady Shri Ram College with water balloons and semen-filled balloons ahead of Holi, the police have deployed more officers in the area and several other places across the city.
On Wednesday, the students’ union of Lady Shri Ram College approached the Delhi Police and complained about semen-filled balloons being hurled at women students.
“As incidents of throwing semen-filled balloons at LSR students was brought to the notice of the students’ union, we have formally requested for increased police patrol in the college vicinity,” the union said in a statement, according to the Hindustan Times.
In the days leading up to Holi, women from across Delhi often report being hit by water balloons from rooftops and by men on bikes. This year, the attacks were brought into the spotlight after a psychology student of Lady Shri Ram College described on social media her experience of being hit by a “liquid-filled balloon” on her way back from lunch.
She said she had just started for college from Amar Colony when a “liquid-filled balloon” hit her hip. “It dried white on my black leggings, and the foreign smell clearly indicated that it wasn’t water,” she wrote, adding that she did not know what it was until a friend told her “semen-flinging...was currently the Holi fad in the back market area”.
On Wednesday morning, a BA history student of the college also alleged she was hit by a semen-filled balloon near Amar Colony, an area near the campus. The same evening, another student reported she had three balloons thrown at her from a balcony.
“One of our friends was hit by three balloons around 8 pm,” a student who requested to not be named told PTI. “She called us for help. We told the police about the house from which the balloons were thrown and demanded action.”
After the police intervened, the residents of the house from where the balloons were thrown wrote an apology. .
The police said they have increased motorcycle patrolling near the college.
Amita Yadav, president of the student’s union, told the Hindustan Times that the police have increased patrolling around the college. “They have given us a mobile number, and students are being urged to file complaints,” she added.
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