The cyber cell of the Delhi Police on Tuesday filed an FIR against the rape threat issued to Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur on social media after the Delhi Commission of Women forwarded Kaur's complaint to the police commissioner under IPC Sections 354A (sexual harassment),506 (criminal intimidation), and 66 of the IT act. Kaur is being given security cover by the Delhi Police after the rape threats were made.
There are also reports doing the rounds that Kaur has decided to leave Delhi in the wake of the strong criticism against her after she initiated an online campaign demanding an end to violence against students on college campuses following the February 21 "vandalism" by ABVP members at Ramjas College.
Kanhaiya Kumar and Shehla Rashid join Khalsa College protest:
Former President of JNU Students' Union Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested in 2016 on charges of sedition, and Shehla Rashid, also joined the protest march organised by students and teachers of DU from Khalsa College to the university's Arts Faculty. The protesters have also decided to march from Mandi House to Parliament on March 4.
Kumar has criticised the ABVP and said that the group cannot impose a particular ideology on anyone and that there should be room for discussion. Kumar has also invited the ABVP for discussion and urged them to stop violence, the Indian Express reported.
Students and teachers of Delhi University are currently holding a protest march from Khalsa College to the Arts Faculty of the university to demand an end to violence against students on college campuses and also to bring the perpetrators of the February 21 "vandalism" by ABVP members in Ramjas College to justice. Kaur, however, has withdrawn from the protest saying that she needs to be left alone and that she has said what she had to say.
The National Students' Union of India is on a hunger strike outside the Arts Faculty of DU. Students from JNU will also be joining the protest march. Over 800 people attended the protest march from Khalsa College to DU's Arts Faculty. Jamia Milia Islamia and Ambedkar University also attended the march.
Delhi: Students of Miranda House protest against ABVP over #RamjasRow pic.twitter.com/L0Vmme8lDu
— ANI (@ANI_news) February 28, 2017
ABVP lodges complaint against those who threatened Gurmehar Kaur with rape:
The ABVP has filed a complaint at the Maurice Nagar Police Station in North Campus against those who had allegedly threatened Kaur with rape on social media. In a written complaint to the police, Saket Bahuguna of the ABVP said that no office bearer of the ABVP was involved in the threats that were issued to Kaur and has requested that an FIR be filed in the case.
The ABVP had earlier said that no member of the group would be present at the Khalsa College protest march on Tuesday. However, some members tried to disrupt the protest chanting slogans "Go Back Kanhaiya" but the attempt has been foiled by the Delhi Police, who did not let them reach the actual site of the march. The ABVP has also said that they would welcome Umar Khalid if he says that Kashmir is an integral part of India.
Congress and AAP come out in support of Gurmehar Kaur:
Several leaders from the Indian National Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are expected to join the protest at Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College on Tuesday. Politicians, including Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, AAP CM Arvind Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav, Ajay Maken and Manish Tewari among others, have already come out in support of Kaur.
Congress leader Pramod Tiwari was quoted by India Today as saying that the party would raise the Ramjas College violence issue in the Budget Session of Parliament in March. 'Swaraj Abhiyan' member Yogendra Yadav will also be joining the protest at Khalsa College. CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury is currently at the protest march which has reached DU's Arts Faculty.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to meet L-G Anil Baijal over rape threat to Kaur:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday afternoon at 2.30 pm to demand action against "ABVP goondaism" and the rape threats that were issued to 20-year-old Kaur on social media.
Will meet Hon'ble LG today at 2.30 pm to demand action against ABVP goondaism n rape threats to @mehartweets — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 28, 2017
After meeting Baijal, Kejriwal said that the LG has assured that action would be taken against those guilty. "BJP stage manages events where anti-national slogans are raised. The ABVP then does goondagardi in campuses... No arrest has still been made in the JNU incident," Kejriwal was quoted as saying by HT.
"Delhi CM met me at Raj Niwas. I have assured him that strict immediate action will be taken against those violating law," Baijal was quoted as saying by ANI.
Lady Sri Ram College issues statement supporting Gurmehar Kaur:
The English Department of Lady Sri Ram College in Delhi has issued a statement supporting Kaur, who is a first-year English Honours student at the college. The statement reads:
"We... unequivocally and strongly support our student Gurmehar Kaur and her right to express her opinion on issues that embroil our university. It is immensely gratifying to us as her teachers that she has responded sensitively, creatively and bravely to events in her immediate context rather than seek the safe refuge of silence. We feel that it is the bounden duty of educational institutions to nurture sensitive, responsive and critical thinking students without the fear of violent retaliation."
The statement, while criticising former cricketer Virendra Sehwag and Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda for trivialising the matter, added:
"The threats of violence and brutality that she faces are absolutely reprehensible. Responses on social media by public figures such as Virendra Sehwag and Randeep Hooda are shameful trivialisation of the intimidation that Gurmehar faces at the hands of violent mobs whose viciousness the university has recently witnessed. We fervently appeal to the good sense of the public and to institutions of redressal to help restore our faith in law and justice in our country and let our young citizens think and articulate without fear of intimidation."
From where it all started:
The protests and marches began almost a week ago after clashes broke out between the ABVP and the All India Students' Association (AISA) on February 21 in connection with JNU student Umar Khalid being invited by the Ramjas College authorities to speak at their seminar on 'Cultures of Protest: A Seminar Exploring Representations of Dissent.' The invitation irked ABVP and they resorted to violent protests against holding the seminar and reportedly locked the seminar room at the college campus.
The college authorities cancelled the seminar following the protests. The move angered a section of students and teachers of the college, who along with a few JNU students and the AISA, decided to march till the Maurice Nagar Police Station demanding action against the ABVP-led "vandalism."
