Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) allegedly attacked President-Delhi University of the All India Students Association (AISA) on Thursday at Delhi University’s Satyawati College.
DETAILS OF THE EVENT
Kawalpreet Kaur,AISA DU Unit President,who was present at the college as a speaker for an event on “Digital Safety” organized by “Google” and “She The People TV” said that she was targeted by the ABVP members while on stage. She had been invited to speak about her personal experiences of being harassed online.Kaur was reported saying,’After the talk was about to get over,many ABVP people gathered in the auditorium and started disrupting the event.They mishandled the professors and were after me, and when the police came to rescue me,they asked them, Where are you taking her? We will take her life.’
According to Kaur,the agenda of the protestors was to get her ‘thrown out of the premises’.She stated that there was no heed paid to principal’s call for stopping the disturbance and two professors from the college have even been physically attacked.
Adding that it was ironical that she was attacked while speaking on ‚Äúwomen safety on digital media‚Äù,she added,’This is a reality of Narendra Modi‚Äôs digital India that when women talk about harassment on digital media,she will have to undergo assaults and violence by its students‚Äô group.’
The founder of She The People TV, Shaili Chopra, condemned the incident.She tweeted that-‚ÄúWe had students from unions who came and disrupted our talk at a time Kawalpreet Kaur talked about how women are trolled,shocked that this is what colleges are about ‚Äì politically-motivated groups of men threatening, manhandling.”
ABVP’s SIDE OF STORY
However,denying the allegations, Kunal Yadav, secretary of the Satyawati College students‚Äô union, claimed that the student had ‚Äúmisbehaved‚Äù with the staff.In a letter to the college administration,Mr. Yadav said,’She misbehaved with the staff and students by using abusive language and with the motive to cause unnecessary chaos inside the college auditorium. We demand strict action against the student and her supporters who are responsible for creating such nuisance in college.’
POLICE INVOLVEMENT
Kaur has filed a complaint at the Bharat Nagar Police Station.Based on her complaint,the police has registered a case.Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-West),Aslam Khan, said that no arrests were made but the investigation has been taken up.’The victim has given a few names in her complaint.They will be questioned,CCTV footage of the incident and videos that have been submitted will be examined’,he said.
Meanwhile,Both AISA and ABVP shared their side of story on social media.
Kawalpreet Kaur shared the video of the manhandling on Facebook and wrote-‘I am actually distressed about the slandering that ABVP has started.They are saying my entry is banned in the college.They are all rubbish lies. I was invited as a speaker as I had faced online harassment in the past.I had gone there to share my experience.The funny part is can I have no liberty to go anywhere? Why is ABVP afraid of me?’
ABVP members posted a different view on social media and refuted the charges and termed it as an act of traduce.They referred to AISA as a Naxal loving student organization and claimed that the principal of Satyawati College (Evening) imposed a ban on Kawalpreet Kaur’s entry in the campus.
