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Students protest against harassment under garb of Holi celebrations

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Press Trust of India New Delhi
A day after a Delhi University college student's social media post narrating alleged "semen-flinging" went viral, over 40 members of 'Pinjra Tod' -- a women students' collective -- today took out a protest march condemning such incidents.

The three-hour-long march began at five pm from Vijaynagar and ended at Hudson Lane.

The protesters said incidents like the one reported by the DU student has became a norm during Holi festival.

"Every year such incidents have become common during Holi Festival. Especially the lanes through which we marched today is where lot of women students of DU stay and have experienced such incidents," Devagana, an activist with Pinjra Tod, said.
 

"'Bura mat mano holi hai' is what we hear after being harassed like this," she said

Devagana even questioned the myth behind the festival, saying "Even the reason of this festival has violence against women. A women called Holika is burnt alive and that is being celebrated."

The collective also accused "moral policing" and locking up girls inside their hostels during such festivals.

"Let us refuse this bogus rhetoric of security and policing that wants to lock us up in our hostels and PGs and wants to clear the roads of street vendors in the name of our 'safety'. Let us send out a loud message that we refuse to walk these streets in fear anymore," the collective said.

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First Published: Mar 01 2018 | 1:05 AM IST

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