LSR Students Return to Campus as Safety Fears Persist After Gangrape

Students of Lady Shri Ram College returned to offline classes on campus after a single day of online instruction, even as protests continued over the gangrape of a 17-year-old girl near the institute earlier this week. The teenager was assaulted near Aastha Kunj Park by three men who posed as police officers, an incident that has triggered demonstrations across Delhi over women's safety.

Outside the college gate, students said little had changed in practical terms. Ananya, a student at the college, questioned why online classes were treated as a remedy. She said the move did not make anyone feel safer and argued that keeping women away from public spaces works against the very idea of stepping out and reclaiming the streets. Scores of Delhi University students have been staging demonstrations with the same demand.

Another student, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the choice of which gate to use had become a source of anxiety. While the campus itself is secure, she described the back gate as unsafe, poorly lit and frequented by loitering men. She called the shift to online classes a cosmetic step and said solution-oriented action was still awaited.

A philosophy student said the decision to move classes online did not come from the college administration. Recounting earlier incidents, she said men had been seen masturbating at the campus gate, while some auto-rickshaw drivers watched pornography or passed remarks and whistled at students. A pink booth stands at the end of the lane, she noted, but the stretch itself lacks proper cameras and lighting.

Sakshi, a commerce student from Madhya Pradesh, said many students deliberately pay higher rents to live near the campus rather than risk commuting late in the capital. She added that reports of such crimes increase the frequency of anxious calls from family members back home.

Students are now pressing the government and police to address broader questions of safety, including better lighting at the back gate and a safe passage for walking through the adjoining forest area. They maintain that suspending classes runs counter to their stand of reclaiming public spaces.