– Email interview by Rani Rohini Raman
Pinjra Tod is a collective of women staying in different hostels of Delhi, against the discriminatory hostel rules and regulations.
Q: Women’s hostels have been operating in this manner for quite long. How did you think of this kind of a campaign? Which issues prompted you to respond? Who took the initiative? What were the first issues that you raised? Where did this campaign begin?
Pinjra Tod as a movement isn’t the first such agitation against hostel rules and regulations, or patriarchal practices that are embedded in the University. In fact, there have been several protests in the past, most recent ones being the one in Ramjas in 2009 and St Stephens’ College in 2013 (colleges of Delhi University). As such, there was a group of students, especially women students, who had come in contact with each other through other such protests/political engagements in the city, say for instance, the ‘Kiss of Love’ protest or the ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’ on the 14th of Feb, 2015 and the Come and See the Blood on my Skirt.
In July of 2015, a notice by Jamia administration caused a major uproar. They were cancelling the ‘night outs’ for women students (Night outs are days on which you can go out, and not come back to the hostel, with prior permission which involves several kinds of processes from letters, to faxes from parents to SMSs from the registered phone number of the ‘father’). This triggered a series of responses, a powerful open letter by a woman student from Jamia hostel, and a suo moto notice by Delhi Commission for Women. Some of us, realising that the media attention and the notice could be a crucial moment to push for this, and also that the selective attention to Jamia smacked of bias against the minority institution, started by making a Facebook page, a signature petition towards a Jan Sunwai at JantarMantar and by publishing anonymous stories of women hostellers from across the Universities in Delhi. The demands for that first Jan Sunwai, included issues such as removal of curfews and deadlines, practices of having a Local guardian (most people do not have ‘married’, above 30, male relatives who can become local guardians in the city who will be willing to go through the bureaucracies of late nights and night outs and other disciplinary proceedings of the women’s hostel every week), of increasing hostel seats and providing seats as per need and not merit, ending the daily humiliation and moral policing, and having an elected sexual harassment complaints redressal mechanism in place.
Pinjra Tod also pushed for regularization of private accommodation, PGs abound around the University area with exorbitant rent. These demands, the stories on the Facebook page, the first night march and the Jan Sunwai really helped us to get in touch with people across campuses and there was one Whatsapp group initially which would be one important place to coordinate etc. Over the two years, these networks have come to be more extended, and structured so to say, in terms of regular meetings and specific colleges being able to undertake their own activities and articulate campus specific demands as well.
Q: Do you see hostel locks/rules as symbolic of gender discrimination in the society? Do you see breaking of the hostel locks as crucial in challenging gender discrimination in campuses?
The curfew is not the beginning or the end of gender discrimination in the University. Several questions are to be addressed to truly address the same. Pinjra Tod as a movement and with a set of demands works towards not just doing away with the curfew, but to offer space for an articulation of an alternative collective politics of women students, making space for a collective of women students to articulate and shape their politics while also building a support structure for them. The movement has also been a space from which one has been able to participate, engage and critique other student movements that have been challenging the university structure, be it Occupy UGC or the Justice for Rohith Vemula movement, or protests against the persistent attack on the University itself. More importantly, the movement has allowed us to engage and struggle with the various fissures and hierarchies, successes and failure of the women’s movements and of the varied meanings and manifestations of the category of ‘woman’ itself. The experience has been humbling and inspiring, and we continue to learn from the same.
As such, our articulation of gender discrimination is rooted in the understanding that the curfew is a reflection of the brahmanical patriarchal anxiety around women’s sexuality and autonomy. The University actually perpetuates the same structures and seeks to infantilise women and works to inhibit their ability to make decisions. We have been challenging the University on their bogus logic of protectionism and safety, while it actively does not have sexual harassment redressal mechanisms in place. These practices are also unconstitutional for it undermines women’s mobility, and acts as a conduit between the father and the husband, seeking to preserve the ‘chastity’ of women students as it were. And these practices are rampant across Universities.
This fight against the curfew, for more affordable accommodation and redressal mechanisms signals a battle for women’s autonomy, collectivisation, and the ability for them to take control of their lives and for collective bargaining with patriarchal structures that be. Brahminism and patriarchy creates the dichotomy of the ‘public’ and the ‘private’, where the ‘good Brahmin woman is supposed to remain in the domain of the ‘private’, and this is contrasted with the Dalit or Adivasi woman, who is simultaneously castigated and fetishized for being “promiscuous”, “immoral”, “bad”, due to her participation in the ‘public’ sphere, on streets, in work. These are roles already determined for us as women by the dominant structures and are designed to suit their interest in either case. A good example is the recent change in labour law ‘allowing’ women workers to work the night shift which was earlier not allowed. Who does it benefit? Why is the system, which is so hell bent on keeping some women locked up after dark at the same time wanting to have some women be out at night? The logic behind such a law and our curfews is actually the same. Women are to either be out on the streets or locked in their homes/hostels, as per the convenience of the system, depending on what use they have of our bodies and lives – as workers to clean the streets and sweat in factories, or as repositories of their ‘honour’ and safeguarding their class-caste privilege.
Our fight for the streets has to hence also strongly emphasize that it is also integrally a fight against caste and capitalism as it is against patriarchy. In fact the control over women’s bodies expressed in the curfew is rooted in Brahminical patriarchy which cages women inside ‘homes/hostels/PGs’ and this fight has to dismantle the private/public binary most definitely.
Q: Do you think just by the modification of hostel rules things will be okay? How will you reconcile the issue of mobility for women and safety at the same time in the present scenario?
As mentioned above, the removal of curfew hasn’t been an isolated demand. This demand has been raised from the understanding that women as adults have the right to mobility and that women are able to make decisions for themselves. CCTV cameras and caging women will not help in solving the problem of sexual harassment or violence. In fact, central to this articulation has been the fact that when more women come out on the streets and take public transportation, streets become safer and feel safer. Because it is also about women feeling confident enough to navigate spaces. Often, women students are forced to take routes that they don’t feel safe in/about just to get to hostel on time.
Therefore, this logic of protectionism and safety is not going to take us anywhere, but building effective and transparent mechanisms for redressal, more street lights on frequently used streets, safer and affordable public transportation go a longer way in combating sexual violence. It is also to be said that all the myth making about public spaces being unsafe for women is not quantified by statistics. In fact, most women continue to face abuse and violence at the hands of their family or people they know. The battle against sexual harassment and violence perhaps needs to be fought foremost within the familiar contours of the intimate and the familial.
Q: The reports from various universities tell us that experiences of girls, who choose to move freely in the night, were not that much pleasant. What is the immediate challenge in the event of hostel rules, hopefully , getting relaxed?
Sexual harassment is rampant in Universities, as it is outside. Often, women who transgress patriarchal codes are also punished for doing so. In the case of lack of support structures, women’s vulnerability is further accentuated. Pinjra Tod as a movement has been providing an alternative imagination even as it pushes for its demands. Night marches are one such space, wherein women marching together at night on the same streets where they are forbidden to be after certain hours.
And then, violence does not simply occur when women go out after certain hours, but also in more systemic ways. For instance, though the library does not have differential timings for men and women students. But because of the curfews, women cannot access the library after certain hours. If one does, she is stared at, made to feel uncomfortable and chased out collectively. It would be important to normalise women’s presence in these ‘forbidden’ spaces and making it more accessible and democratic.
Q: Has a networking between various hostels across India been possible?
There have been many such struggles happening in Universities across the country. For instance, the protests at MANUU wherein students burnt the hostel attendance sheets and rulebooks was one such powerful moment. Or the ongoing protests at National Law School in Bhopal, or the powerful ‘Stand with Nomoly’ protests that happened regarding rampant sexual harassment, or the protest at BHU. We have been able to connect with these movements and stand inspired by them. Often, the Facebook page has been useful for this reaching out, wherein people feel comfortable to reach out, often we have also been able to establish closer connections in those hostels and colleges for further engagements. We had been in touch with some people in BHU which also allowed us to get a better insight into the movement. However, there have also been times when there have been independent Pinjra Tod units that have been running in some colleges and we hear about it through the media. The movement has allowed for a wider understanding and recognition of the manifestations of similar issues across campuses, and the kind of negotiations that the movement/collective is part of in different colleges.
Q: How far has media turned their attention to the agitation?
Pinjra Tod operates in Delhi in what could be called the post December 2012 moment and therefore, media outlets have treated Pinjra Tod with much curiosity initially. Often, there would be media over-presence at any Pinjra Tod event, even a small one while a media blackout for an Occupy UGC protest or a Justice for Rohith Vemula protest the very next day, in which Pinjra Tod would be participating.
It is that the media reports have been favourable and have also aided in creating pressure on college authorities, often in case of show cause notices and witch hunting but it has also been interesting for us to note how the media reports. Often the media will choose to edit out our statements, choosing to use sexism instead of brahmanical patriarchy, choosing to title their stories in quotes. Often we have been asked questions about whether our parents know of our involvement in the movement and approve of it, often we have been addressed as “desh ki betiyaan azaadi maang rahi hain” to which we have objected. Often, we have been proposed and often sneakily packaged into a (individualist) movement such as “I can” and individual members been asked to pose in shorts in the college and send pictures, completely running against our demands that the movement is a collective effort of women students, and that it isn’t simply an individual act of rebellion. Often, the media also feels entitled to ask us to pose in certain ways, with certain select posters to up the sensational value. All these have been constant negotiations with the media that wishes to report on ‘gender’ in a certain manner. Which is not to dismiss that it has also been instrumental in pitching the movement in a certain way but it has been interesting to note how a post regarding dress codes in IIT Delhi will garner much interest and will be published widely, whereas the very next post/protest from the same Facebook page regarding a Dalit woman student committing suicide due to the police’s refusal to file her complaint of blackmail against her partner/boyfriend will be completely ignored by the same media outlets.
Q: What are the personal experiences of the participants? How did families, neighbours, male friends, boyfriends, teachers respond to this activism?
Experiences of individual members from family members/friends/partners have been varied. From encouraging, supporting to disapproving to even being made fun of. Often, some members have found themselves as having been characterised as over enthused, or as someone who reacts to things to sharply. Some friends have even joined the movement. Many a times, women have had to lie to their families to attend a Night march and as a movement, we have had to be careful about who will speak to the media and who will not, whose picture must not be shared with the media or on the Facebook page etc. Many such negotiations have informed our decisions in the movement; indeed some people cannot participate in the more visible protests or public meetings but are integral to the movements. In fact, in some colleges, Pinjra Tod has operated with guerrilla tactics such as putting up posters at 5 am, sliding parchas under hostel room doors late at night etc and sometimes even operated with a different name. Some activists have partners who are also part of the movement, and that has come with its own set of negotiations, during tough periods. Some have partners who aren’t and have had to deal with the stress that accompanies periods of hyperactivity and organising, and it definitely has a toll on intimate relationships and friendships, the partner finding it difficult to comprehend this level of political activity whereas some have been able to have more meaningful partnerships/intimacies because of the same. There have been cases of intimate partner violence that someone has shared with a few other activists, depending on the intimacy and the friendships that have been created through the movement. Cases of activists being stalked, say not just by ABVP but also classmates, perhaps, and the movement in these cases has been an important support structure not only in the fight against the administration but also in these negotiations that inform a University woman student’s experience in the city and the fights against the family. Of course, there will always more to do in these cases, and the struggle is ongoing for that as well.
This interview was conducted in 2018. Recently few Dalit-Bahujan members of Pinjra Tod issued a public statement while leaving Pinjra Tod, their statement can be found in the link given below.
http://roundtableindia.co.in/ index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id =9582&catid=129&Itemid=195
Engaging with this Debate, Pinjara Tod activits came up with a response which can be read here. https://pinjratod.wordpress.com/ 2019/03/20/women-on-the-edge-of-timereflections-from-pinjra-tod/