A police officer, accompanied by teachers, inspects the terrace of the hostel of Lady Brabourne College on Tuesday. Students have alleged that drunken men clamber up drainpipes to reach the terrace and knock on their doors past midnight
Lady Brabourne College hostel didn't sleep on Monday night.
More than 200 girls, so long living in fear of the drunken men who would torment them night after night, summoned the courage to do what police couldn't: hit back if anyone tried to sneak into their building. 'If 200 girls pounced on them, not one of the intruders would have been able to escape,' one of the girls said.
The goon gang stayed away.
A girl who conquered fear on Monday night recounts to Metro the birth of a new dawn at Lady Brabourne College hostel on Suhrawardi Avenue.
We were all in our rooms but awake and alert to that first thud on the terrace that used to strike fear in our hearts every night.
Night after night, we had been teased and terrorised but the authorities didn't seem to care. The time had come to fight back.
On other nights, it was the fear of being hounded that would keep us awake. Last night, we were waiting for them to come. We were determined to catch them red-handed.
The lights, newly installed after our daylong protest (on Monday), helped.
DSO activists who staged a demonstration at the main gate of the hostel against “security lapses” talk to the inmates. Pictures by Bibhash Lodh
Usually, our torment would start with a thud on the terrace and a commotion. Then, invariably the drainpipes would start rattling as if threatening to give away. The men would slither up and down the drainpipes and roam our corridors. Finally, there would be the chilling knock on the door to announce their arrival.
This had been our routine for months. Last night was different.
For once, we had a clear view of the road, thanks to the newly installed lights. Two private guards patrolled the compound.
Usually, by the time our elderly night guard Panna da would respond to our call for help, the goons were out of reach. Once he left, their voices would be heard again.
I was working on my laptop last night. One of my friends in another room was reading a book. Another friend lay down on her bed. The common thing was that we were all alert and, for a change, not scared. We were ready to act if anyone dared us. Nobody did.
It is a shame that the college authorities are claiming we did not file a specific complaint. What more do we need to say after showing the police an empty liquor bottle in the compound? What more specifics do they want? Do they (police) expect us to catch the goons for them? The worst part is that some of our own college officials aren't ready to believe us.
I still don't know whether the college authorities believe in our allegations or not. But the fact that our agitation resulted in some simple security additions - the lights and the two extra guards - is a good sign. It's a different matter that these are meant to be compulsory features of any girls' hostel.
We might get scolded for talking to the media but would keeping mum help our cause?
I was feeling a little disheartened to hear how our principal, despite being a woman, had been so insensitive towards us. She had told us last Saturday that little could be done, which forced us to agitate in front of her office on Monday.
Today (Tuesday) morning, I got to hear something that restored my energy.
A friend said she heard one college guard talking to another. ' Amra eto din-e ja korte parlam na ei meyegulo sheta korey dekhalo (these girls have managed to accomplish what we couldn't do in so many days).
I don't know how long we will be able to keep up the vigil. But last night, nobody dared disturb us.
