In Kashmir, women are raped by security personnel: Kanhaiya Kumar

JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar found himself in a spot on over remarks made by him at a student’s gathering on women’s day with the BJP’s youth wing filing a police complaint over his alleged defiance of bail conditions by making “anti-national” statements.

 we have a lot of respect for our soldiers, we will still talk about the fact that in Kashmir women are raped by security personnel,” Kanhaiya said while addressing students at a women’s day march late on Tuesday night.

“JNU professor Nivedita Menon has been spewing hatred against the Indian Armed Forces in public meetings as well. She made statements like it is recognized worldwide that India is illegally occupying Kashmir,” it added. When contacted Menon, who teaches at the Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory at the School of International Studies in JNU said, ” I don’t believe anything I said was anti-national”.

Kanhaiya’s party All India Students Federation (AISF) that, “he made the remarks in context of atrocities on women worldwide and not just in Kashmir. He in no way meant to demean Army or any other force and he clarified that in his speech too”.

Kanhaiya was arrested on February 12 in a sedition case over an event on campus against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. He was granted an interim bail for six months by Delhi High Court last week.

THE CASE OF ANTI-NATIONALISM

Cops say Kanhaiya shouted anti-India slogans, It is evident from Kumar's act seen in the video footage/statements of witnesses that he became the part of unlawful assembly, led the unlawful assembly, played an active role in riots, raised/supported anti-national slogans which lead to violence," the final report said, adding that "Kumar himself raised anti-India slogans to incite hatred and disaffection towards the government established by the law". 

What evidence did the police provide?

1) The evidence listed by the agency included a report of JNU's high-level committee, a statement of varsity's Registrar Bhupinder Jutshi and the mobile phone recordings in which Kumar was seen arguing with him over the cancellation of the programme. "Kumar also told him (Jutshi) that they would go ahead with the programme without permission," it said.

2) Regarding the other two former JNU students -- Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya -- the police said they also raised anti-India slogans. The police said that a video shot by a news channel and those clips shot by students present at the spot show that Khalid, Bhattacharya and Ashutosh were raising slogans. "When interviewed by news channels, others in the procession supported and repeated the anti-India slogans," the final report said.

3) It, however, added that the slogans raised by Ashutosh were not anti-national unlike those by Khalid and Bhattacharya. Khalid raised slogans as shown in the videos and mobile clips, the police said, citing a video which shows him saying "the programme is against the occupation of Kashmir by the Indian State. I am making it very apparent that I am not from Kashmir but I believe that what is happening in Kashmir is the Indian occupation of Kashmir..."