After IPCW fest ruckus, DU makes it mandatory for colleges to get police permission to hold fests

NEW DELHI: The Delhi University proctor today issued an advisory for organising events and programmes in colleges and departments. This comes after the recent harassment incident and security lapses during the annual fest at the DU’s Indraprastha College for Women.

DU proctor Rajni Abbi said, “The responsibility for events shall lie with the college/ department authorities and they should act judiciously due diligence while organizing the programmes/events/festival.”

The university instructed the DU colleges to assess the capacity of the venue in terms of attendees expected. “Information on the capacity of the various venues should be mapped and the total number of participants allowed should be in accordance with the available space,” the advisory read.

The colleges usually allow students from outside to attend fest and programmes. However, the number of outside registrations should be kept below the venue’s capacity and considering the number of students, teachers and staff participating from the organising college, it said.

“Prior to any such concert, event, where outside students are invited, a proper Advance Security Liasoning (ASL) meeting in advance should be conducted with all stakeholders - fire, police, electricity, college security, college representative, event management company. No such event will be organized without NOC from the police,” the DU advisory read.

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There should also be an assessment of the boundary wall of the college. If found low concertina wires should be installed to prevent outsiders from scaling the walls, it said.

“There should be multiple gates in the college and all gates must have working CCTVs. All gates should have a PA system for any announcements. There should be CCTVs at the hostel gates also to avoid any kind of trespassing,”

In case a college is organising concerts, there should be a structural stability check of the stage prior to the event as many students may come to the stage.

“If need be DFMS (door frame metallic detectors) can be hired from the police department. The entry of students and outsiders should be channelised (in lines). All the areas at and near the venue should be well illuminated and there should not be any dark patches,” the DU proctor said. All volunteers will also have to wear identifiable caps and badges so that they can be easily located in case of emergency.

Entry for DU events through pre-registration

Entry for events should be through pre-registration like on Google Forms with details of the event i.e. date, venue, expected number of participants’, should be maintained and submitted to the police with a copy to . The registration forms should include scanned copies of the College ID-cards of the participants.

Mandated security drills by the college authorities in collaboration with Delhi Police should be conducted prior to important students’ events. “It is absolutely essential to give students the confidence that if any untoward incident occurs they could and should immediately approach their staff advisors, teachers, the Internal Complaints Committee, the Women’s Development Cell, the Proctorial Committee and the Principal, so that they can take speedy action,” Rajni Abbi said.

The proctor said that “if any of the guidelines is not followed then the concerned College/Department is solely responsible for any untoward incident during any event organized”.