A Delhi University student who got rape and death threats on social media after launching an online campaign against the ABVP approached the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW)….reports India Daily Newsdesk
Gurmehar Kaur met DCW chief Swati Maliwal and complained against the online threats she had been receiving ever since she stood up to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a DCW official said.
Daughter of an army officer killed in the Kargil war, the Lady Shri Ram College student posted pictures on her Facebook page saying: “I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me.”
She hashtagged #StudentsAgainstABVP
Kaur launched the online campaign against the RSS student wing after the February 22 violence in Delhi University’s Ramjas College.
She then received rape and death threats on social media by some who called her “anti-national”.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Kaur said she was not afraid because she was fighting for “the right cause”.
“Just because you are a student organisation which is in power does not mean you can threaten me. I don’t want to be scared of you.
“A student organisation’s job is to work for the welfare of the students, not to rule them or to scare them,” she said.
“I am getting hundreds of threats. If I start lodging complaints against each of them, then even the police would ask me to stop,” she added.
Along with threats, Kaur has also received the support of innumerable people — young and old — for her stand against the ABVP and violence on the campus.
Meanwhile Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju wondered who was “polluting” the mind of a Delhi University student whose campaign on social media against the ABVP over the Ramjas College violence has gone viral. The Minister’s tweet attracted opposition flak.
In response to Kaur’s campaign, the Minister of State for Home said: “Who’s polluting this young girl’s mind?”
The Minister added in the same tweet: “A strong Arm Force prevents a war. India never attacked anyone but a weak India was always invaded.”
Congress took on the Minister, and called ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ‘patriarchal’.
“When a woman thinks independently, patriarchal BJP thinks her mind is polluted. When a person ‘bats’ for peace, BJP responds with hate,” the Congress said in a tweet from its official account.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) slammed the BJP for not condemning those issuing “rape threats” on social media to the student.
“A girl is being threatened by rape on social media. Not a single BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) or RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) leader called it wrong or condemned it. Why,” AAP leader Ashutosh tweeted.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Sunday night attacked the BJP over the issue and said it had now become a party of “hooligans” and “criminals”.
Sharing a video of Kaur speaking about the “graphically detailed” rape threat she received, Kejriwal tweeted: “Just listen to this. This is BJP. They will destroy our country. Everyone must rise against their goondaism.”
“Threatening our daughters and sisters with rape; is this BJP’s patriotism? Shame on these people,” he added.
One of the posters that Kaur posted on social media read “Pakistan did not kill my Dad, war did.”
Cricketer Virendra Sehwag took a dig at this and tweeted a pic saying: “I did not score two triple centuries, my bat did.”
Clashes took place at Delhi University’s Ramjas college on February 22 after the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members forced the cancellation of a seminar to be addressed by JNU student Umar Khalid, and then disrupted a march.
Khalid was jailed last year on sedition charges for allegedly shouting anti-national slogans.