STUDENT RAPE PUTS JNU BACK ON THE BOIL.

Protests erupt on campus as accused AISA leader Anmol Ratan goes absconding; rival ABVP begins door- to- door campaign

AN alleged rape on campus has emerged as a potential flashpoint between ideologically divergent student groups at the city's Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU), which has been at the centre of a swirling debate over nationalism and free speech this year.

Anmol Ratan, a PhD student and activist from the far- left All India Students Association ( AISA), has been accused of sexually assaulting a comrade. The incident has given rival ABVP ammunition to attack AISA and the right-wing group has launched a sweeping campaign at the university by raising the issue of women's safety. The accused, who's reportedly absconding, is a student of the Centre for the Study of Discrimination and Exclusion (CSDE) under the prestigious School of Social Sciences (SSS) while the alleged victim too is a PhD student. The matter has come as another nettlesome test for AISA after three of its members were charged with sedition following an event on campus in February commemorating Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. While the association has expelled Anmol from its primary membership, sources say he was previously the secretary and then president of the group's Delhi state unit. Case filed The 28-year-old woman had on Sunday approached Delhi Police and filed a case against Anmol, accusing him of raping her in his room in the Brahmaputra hostel. She said the accused offered her a copy of a movie she had been looking for and took her to his room where he gave her a drink spiked with sedatives. She told the police that he raped her when she was unconscious and later threatened her to not report the matter. "The victim was sent for recording her statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC, but she cited illness, due to which it has been postponed now," said RP Upadhyay, joint commissioner of police, southeastern range. He said the statement was expected to be recorded on Tuesday. "The accused student has not joined the probe and is unavailable for questioning." The university administration has denounced the incident. "The Jawaharlal Nehru University always stands for dignity of the individual, respect for women and democratic values," it said in a statement. "The administration does not tolerate such incidences and resolves to take appropriate measures to prevent them in future. The entire JNU community stands with the victim." It also appealed to students, staff and teachers to remain vigilant against such incidents. The ABVP conducted several rounds of protests on Monday, going room to room in hostels, messes during lunch and dinner, at the office of the vice-chancellor (V-C) outside the administrative block and in various schools such as that of languages, social sciences and sciences. The day's protest agenda culminated in a demonstration at the ground in front of the Sabarmati Hostel, the same place where the Afzal Guru row had been ignited. The right-wing also initiated an aggressive social media campaign against the alleged Anmol's alleged crime under the title of "Bekhauf Azadi" (Unbridled Freedom). The sole representative of ABVP in an otherwise Left-dominated JNUSU, Saurabh Sharma, told Mail Today that he had already written to the V-C, demanding stern action against the accused, including his immediate rustication from the varsity. The AISA and other Left student organisations distanced themselves from the incident and appealed to the administration to act immediately and strictly against the accused. "The fact that a leading activist of ours is accused of sexual violence calls for serious introspection and reinvigorating the process of sensitisation against sexual violence within and outside the organisation," said the association's president, Sucheta De. Necessary action The vice-president of JNUSU and also an AISA member, Shehla Rashid, who was seen on many occasions with the accused during protests, called for "necessary action" and had "written to the vice-chancellor in this regard". "We have asked the V-C to issue a statement from JNU, as an institution, asserting the autonomy and freedom of women within and outside the campus," she said. "The responsibility of women's safety cannot be placed on women, but it is the responsibility of the society (in this case, campus community) to respect women's integrity, autonomy, freedom and consent." Rashid accused the right-wing of trying to find out the identity of the complainant. "We know that in Modi government's Union cabinet ministry, a rape-accused, namely Nihal Chand, was never made to step down," she said. "The double standards of the right-wing groups can be seen in their constant habit of abusing women on the Internet in the most patriarchal terms."

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Publication:	Mail Today (New Delhi, India)
Date:	Aug 23, 2016
Words:	783
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