Solidarity with protests by women students across Delhi campuses resisting sexual violence - Statement from All India Feminist Alliance (Sep 30, 2026)

ALIFA extends solidarity to the week-long protest by thousands of women students across Delhi campuses resisting sexual violence

End the culture of impunity enjoyed by patriarchal and violent abusers:

Strengthen systemic safety measures and accountability of authorities

30th Sep, 2026: All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA) expresses deep concern at the rising instances of rape and sexual violence in Delhi and across the country. We are enraged by the institutional inaction, complicity and sanction of violence against women in many of these cases. We salute the hundreds of young college-going women of Delhi, who have risen in protest against this culture of violence, lack of safety and accountability. We fully support the demands of the students and call for a stronger systemic response and safety measures to prevent such instances of violence against young women students, women and persons of marginalized genders.

ALIFA notes with immense pain that the gang-rape of a 17-year minor woman on 21st September night, inside Aastha Kunj Park near Kalkaji Mandir by three men posing as police officers (after separating the survivor from her male friend) adds to many such incidents in different parts of the country. In recent times we have witnessed violence against girls and young women in Jamui, Samastipur, Banka (in Bihar), Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan) etc. Streets, parks, hospitals, colleges and other public spaces are increasingly becoming unsafe for young women.

Over the past one week, students in Delhi organized multiple protests across different campuses. In addition to the immediate demands of fixing broken streetlights, lack of patrolling after dark, and desolate stretches without adequate safety measures; the students are rightly demanding systemic accountability, safer campus environments, and more secure public spaces.

• 23rd September: The very first major student demonstration following the assault, on 21st September. Hundreds of Delhi University students, primarily from South Delhi colleges like Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) and Gargi College, held a massive solidarity march.

• 25th September: Women students from various DU colleges (including LSR, Gargi College, Miranda House and Kamala Nehru College) staged a protest march starting from the gate of Kamala Nehru College.

• 26th September: Protests continued near LSR and Gargi College, covering routes around August Kranti Marg and Siri Fort Road with slogans like "Make Delhi Safe Again’.

• 28th – 29th September: Thousands of students (over 3,000) participated in a women-led solidarity march through the North Campus of Delhi University.

ALIFA stands in unflinching solidarity with the protesting students asking a central question: why should a woman’s freedom to move through public space be curtailed in response to violence against them? The answer cannot simply be to shut college gates while conditions outside remain unchanged. A safe and accessible city is marked by how people; especially women and persons of marginalized genders can use its streets, parks, public transport and other shared spaces without having to calculate which routes or hours are safe for them.

We want to turn the spotlight onto men who behave in abusive and violent ways, instead of questions being pointed to young women for their life choices. The mirror must be shown to perpetrators and those who enable violent behaviours. Safety cannot be created by forcing women to stay indoors, leave college earlier, switch to online classes or avoid public spaces. It requires a gender-just and violence-free society, campuses and neighbourhoods, in addition to vigilant and sensitive policing, responsive civic authorities, functioning lights and accountable mechanisms to prevent violence before it occurs. It also requires that the public and the state stop questioning the woman herself, her ‘character’, and her intentions.

In multiple instances, the accused are connected to the police, powerful social elements or the ruling party in the state or the centre, showing the sinister side of why the predators often have a sense of entitlement and absence of fear for the law. It is obvious that their ‘protectors’, sitting in police stations or associated with the party in power, have given them the confidence that even if they rape or gang rape, assault, harm or murder, they will get away. This nexus of the predator, rapist and those in power shows how there is no accountability for violence against women, which is why the situation of women being unsafe in public places is fast deteriorating.

We demand the following from the Delhi administration, Delhi Police and authorities of all Delhi educational institutions:

1. Ensure time-bound trial of rape cases, as per law, protecting the survivor’s identity and dignity at every stage.

2. In all cases of sexual violence on minors, ensure a prompt investigation, time-bound trial, survivor confidentiality, legal assistance, a support person, counselling and protection from repeated or hostile questioning, as per BNS, POCSO Act and NCPCR guidelines.

3. Make public all complaints, safety audits, lighting-repair requests and relevant patrol records concerning Aastha Kunj and its surrounding routes over the preceding year, along with the action taken on each. The public is entitled to know whether these hazards had been reported before the assault, and why they remained unaddressed.

4. No college, university or hostel administration should respond to instances or complaints of sexual violence by tightening curfews, advancing closing times or otherwise restricting women’s mobility and access to education and public space.

5. All-night patrolling of the streets, by policewomen and policemen, who are regularly trained in gender-sensitive policing.

6. Restore and maintain lighting and patrolling around Aastha Kunj Park and the connecting stretch to Kalkaji Mandir, and also around all women’s colleges and university campuses in Delhi.

ALIFA will continue to raise these questions, in solidarity with the students and seek answers from the authorities and systemic safeguards. What happened at Aastha Kunj demands justice for the survivor. It should also result in lasting changes to the public spaces that women in the capital or anywhere in India, use every day.

Issued by: All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA – NAPM)

Contact: narivadinapm[at]gmail.com