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After Semen-Filled Balloon Hurled At College Woman, Students Outrage Over 'Normalisation Of Sexual Harassment During Holi'

The Delhi University yesterday announced elaborate internal and external security arrangements on campus in wake of Holi

After a Delhi University college student, in an instagram post, narrated a pre-holi menace wherein a group of unidentified men allegedly threw a "semen-filled" balloon at her, a group of students has called for a rally to protest against the "normalisation of sexual harassment" on the pretext of Holi.

The college students, along with Pinjra Tod (a DU women rights group), took to the social media to express their angst and condemn the issue.

"...to together assert our collective anger and resistance on the streets against this normalisation of sexual violence and harassment that happens every year on the pretext of 'bura na mano holi hai'," said a post on Pinjara Tod's facebook site.

In her Instagram post on February 24, the girl, who is from the northeast, said, "I went out with a friend for lunch to a cafe in Amar Colony Market. At around five when heading back in a rickshaw there came flying my way a liquid-filled balloon hitting me in the hip where it burst open, its content seeping into my dress.

"It dried white on my black leggings... I did not guess what it really was. Only when I returned to my hostel to hear another friend of mine talking about semen-flinging," she said.

"Not a single person in that busy market batted a single eyelid at the sight of men throwing such balloons," she said in the post.

The student recalled the ordeal she underwent and said, "Ever since in moved to this city seven months ago, I 've been bumped by more than once by men."

"All accidentally of course. Hands have patted on me inappropriately," she said adding that she has also been called derogatory names.

The Delhi University yesterday announced elaborate internal and external security arrangements on campus, hostels and other colleges to counter any possible hooliganism under the garb of Holi celebrations.

Gurmehar Kaur, who is also a student of same South Delhi college, wrote in a facebook post that: "Having safe spaces around our campus is a right we need to fight for strongly."

"The perversity and frequency of these attacks on our friends and classmates during the weeks leading up to Holi should not be normalized. We are all disturbed, angry and frustrated at this repeated harassment," her post read.

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"Bura kyun na maano?( why not feel bad?)" named Pijra Tod organised rally is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Police, reported PTI, has said the incident has come to their knowledge and they are trying to contact the girl so that an investigation can take place.

"We have not received any complaint regarding this yet," a senior police official told PTI.

With Agency Inputs

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