Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
Interesting

'This Is All I Can Take’: Gurmehar Kaur Gets Police Protection But Delhi University Is Calm

IANS, 01 Mar, 2017 12:48 PM
    Delhi University was calm on Wednesday, a day after thousands of students protested against the ABVP, even as student Gurmehar Kaur, facing rape and death threats, got police security at her hometown Jalandhar in Punjab.
     
    After two Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists were arrested here overnight for attacking two leftwing students, about 50 ABVP members demonstrated outside the Delhi Police headquarters on Wednesday.
     
    The RSS-affiliated student body demanded action against the students it said had raised "anti-national slogans" at the Jawaharlel Nehru University a year ago but have never been caught.
     
    "After creating commotion in JNU, these anti-national sloganeers have moved to Delhi University," ABVP media convenor Saket Bahuguna said.
     
    The Delhi university campus was peaceful but a large number of police personnel remained deployed outside various colleges. Guards checked the identity cards of the students.
     
     
    On Tuesday night, ABVP members Vinayak Sharma and Prashant Mishra were arrested for beating up two AISA members near the Khalsa College, several hours after a massive student protest against the ABVP in the campus.
     
    The ABVP suspended both but said they were provoked by the Left-leaning All India Students Association (AISA).
     
    "We will not tolerate violence in the DU campus. We wish to restore peace in the university," an ABVP leader told IANS.
     
    Trouble erupted in the otherwise placid Delhi University campus on February 21 when the ABVP forced the cancellation of a seminar at Ramjas College over the participation of a controversial JNU student.
     
    The next day, ABVP activists were blamed for attacking students, teachers and journalists in the campus, triggering widespread condemnation.
     
    Lady Shri Ram College student Gurmehar Kaur then launched a social media campaign against the ABVP, only to face death and rape threats. On Tuesday she left Delhi for Punjab, saying she was pulling out of the campaign.
     
     
    While her college teachers, fellow students and family have stood by her, she did not speak to the media on Wednesday at Jalandhar, where the Punjab Police deployed two women constables for her protection.
     
    At Ramjas College, a student who did not want to be named told IANS that the unprecedented violence in the campus had disturbed everyone.
     
    "The whole of last week has been disturbed. This is going to affect our studies," the B.A. Third Year student said.
     
    "The guards are not allowing anyone inside the campus before 9 a.m. They are checking all identity cards," she said.
     
    Meanwhile, cricketer Gautam Gambhir voiced support for Kaur, saying mocking or ganging up against the 20-year-old for her views on the horrors of war was despicable.
     
    "We live in a free country where everyone is entitled to their opinion," he said in a video message. "If a daughter who lost her father puts up posts about the horrors of war, she has all the right."
     
     
    Former cricketer Virender Sehwag clarified that his response to Kaur on the social media was an attempt to be facetious. He said he did not mean to bully her.
     
    "Agreement or disagreement wasn't even a factor," he said. "She has a right to express her views and anyone who threatens her with violence or rape is the lowest form of life."
     
    But Sehwag's tweet did not prevent Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij from taking on the young student.
     
    He said Kaur was doing politics over the "martyrdom of her father" and accused her of giving Pakistan "a clean chit".
     
    On Tuesday, Delhi's Lt Governor Anil Baijal promised speedy action against those who indulged in violence in Delhi University and those who threatened Kaur.
     
     
    SIKH OUTFITS RALLY BEHIND GURMEHAR KAUR
     
    A number of Sikh organisations and some political parties in Punjab have rallied behind Gurmehar Kaur after she received rape threats for speaking out against ABVP in Delhi. Gurmehar belongs to Jalandhar and it was here that her father, Captain Mandeep Singh, was cremated after he died in 1999.
     
     
     
    Among those who spoke out were AAP Punjab leaders, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee (DSGMC), Dal Khalsa, Istri Jagriti Manch Punjab and Sikh Sewak Society International. AAP Punjab spokesperson Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Tuesday demanded that ABVP be banned.
     
    He also questioned Union minister Harsimrat Badal's silence when "a daughter of Punjab" was being threatened with rape by ABVP supporters.Senior Supreme Court advocate and AAP functionary H S Phoolka called up Gurmehar's mother Rajwinder Kaur to assure that they would extend all support.
     
    Khaira said targeting Gurmehar reflected the height of intolerance in the country . "How can opinions be suppressed like this?" he asked. "The way ABVP and its patrons targeted a 20-year-old martyr's daughter exposes their fascist agenda."
     
     
    On the other hand, the DSGMC jumped in to support Gurmehar. "Those threatening our own sister and daughter can't be nationalists," said the body's president Manjit Singh GK.
     
    Terming the incident as a sign of bad politics, GK said he was duty bound to stand by a girl whose father laid his life fighting for the nation.
     
    "Our Constitution gives all citizens freedom of speech and difference of opinion doesn't mean that attempts are made to muzzle voices with uncivilised threats. If Gurmehar Kaur stood for not waging a war on Pakistan, does this make her anti-Indian," GK added.
     
     
    Dal Khalsa leader H S Dhami, spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh and Sikh Youth for Punjab (SYP) head Paramjit Singh Tanda said in a statement that power had gone to ABVP's head ever since the BJP government took over at the Centre. Dhami expressed solidarity with the student bodies which had challenged the ABVP.
     
    Stay updated on the go with Times of India News App. Click here to download it for your device.

    MORE Interesting ARTICLES

    Bank Of England Meets Hindu Council Members Over Beef Tallow In 5 Pound Note

    Bank Of England Meets Hindu Council Members Over Beef Tallow In 5 Pound Note
    Production of the new pound 10 notes began in August last year and are planned to be released into circulation in September this year. The new pound 10 plastic notes will feature author Jane Austen.

    Bank Of England Meets Hindu Council Members Over Beef Tallow In 5 Pound Note

    25% Of Vancouver Homes Could Be Torn Down By 2030, New UBC Study Finds

    25% Of Vancouver Homes Could Be Torn Down By 2030, New UBC Study Finds
    An architecture professor at the University of British Columbia says about a quarter of detached homes in Vancouver could be torn down in just over a decade.

    25% Of Vancouver Homes Could Be Torn Down By 2030, New UBC Study Finds

    This Singing Dentist's Cover Of Ed Sheeran's 'Shape Of You' Is Viral. Brush Along!

    This Singing Dentist's Cover Of Ed Sheeran's 'Shape Of You' Is Viral. Brush Along!
    Dentists are the most dreaded doctors of the medical world, hands down! The whirring of the drill, the stress of a root canal and that oh-so-dreaded wisdom tooth removal, it's anyone's worst nightmare. 

    This Singing Dentist's Cover Of Ed Sheeran's 'Shape Of You' Is Viral. Brush Along!

    AR Rahman’s ‘Jai Ho’ At Queen’s Palace Reception

    The Band of the Grenadier Guards will a play a selection of Indian-themed music, including tracks from the 2009 box-office hit ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, on February 27, when the UK-India Year of Culture will be officially launched.

    AR Rahman’s ‘Jai Ho’ At Queen’s Palace Reception

    Watch: This Spoof Video Of Modi-Ramdev Singing 'Baba Ji Ki Booty' Is Breaking The Internet

    Watch: This Spoof Video Of Modi-Ramdev Singing 'Baba Ji Ki Booty' Is Breaking The Internet
    This video with a 'weed-twist' is a must watch.

    Watch: This Spoof Video Of Modi-Ramdev Singing 'Baba Ji Ki Booty' Is Breaking The Internet

    Virat Kohli Wants You To Read This Book That Has Changed His Life

    Virat Kohli Wants You To Read This Book That Has Changed His Life
    While he often shares his fitness routine on social media platforms, the 28-year-old recommended a book that he says has transformed his perspective on life.

    Virat Kohli Wants You To Read This Book That Has Changed His Life