Pinjra Tod campaign exhorts women to oppose ‘sexist’ hostel timings

Women students and teachers of Delhi University (DU), supported by women rights activists, have intensified their ‘Pinjra Tod’ campaign to fight against discriminatory entry/ exit timings for girls putting up in varsity hostels. College girls, accompanied by some of their teachers and activists, will perform street plays to pester the authorities concerned to make the timings at par with boys.

The campaign, which began in August last year, comprises women students from DU, Jamia Millia Islamia, Ambedkar University, National Law University and Jawaharlal Nehru University.  The campaign started with a Facebook page, where women hostel and PG residents shared their bitter experiences with guards, wardens, principals and landlords over timings.

From plays to songs, highlighting women’s liberation, the Pinjra Tod – break the cage –movement is not letting any stone unturned to ensure that their voices are heard.

For far too long, women’s freedom has been curtailed in the name of safety. State institutions and universities need to understand that they cannot protect women by confining them to an abode. 

“The campaign’s name resonates with a situation, wherein women hostellers in various colleges and universities find themselves today – big walls, huge metal gates locked in the night, security guards manning the gates and numerous restrictions imposed on the inmates,” said Arunima, a DU student.

“We are trying to press for uniform timings for male and female students through signature campaigns, online petitions, etc. Members of the group have adopted ‘guerrilla’ tactics i.e,. spray-painting messages of resistance on the campus’ streets and pavements in wee hours,” she added.

Functioning mostly through word-of-mouth and social media, “we are trying to address four issues through the campaign — unnecessary restrictions on women, moral policing in the name of concern, need for the creation of more egalitarian and affordable spaces, where women can stay, and proper implementation of anti-sexual harassment laws. If the environment is more enabling, we believe women don’t have to be caged at all,” said Sangeeta Jayshwal, another student.

A play titled ‘Sultana’s Dream’, written by Rokeya Begum in 1905, was enacted on the North campus on Saturday. “It is unique because it was written by a woman during the Colonial Era and it challenges the deep patriarchal world, simply by imagination. It is the imagination of a woman, who wants to travel around the world, denounce the purdah system and foster friendship with her fellow women travelers,” said an actor of the play.