I was one of the speakers at the talk on sexual harassment in the digital world. After finishing my session, I went and sat with the audience, says Kawalpreet Kaur
The president of All India Students' Association (AISA) at the Delhi University (DU) was allegedly manhandled by a group of male students during an event on 'Women's safety' at Satyawati College on Thursday.
Kawalpreet Kaur, a student at DU's law faculty, alleged that the group was led by members of RSS-affiliate Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP). "I was one of the speakers at the talk on sexual harassment in the digital world. After finishing my session, I went and sat with the audience. Suddenly, 30-40 students came in, demanding that I be kicked out of the event," she said.
However, the teachers and organisers reportedly formed a human chain around Kaur to protect her. "Some teachers who were trying to rescue me also were hit. The principal even asked everyone to maintain decorum but they did not listen. Finally, police came and escorted me out," Kaur said.
Kaur also posted a video on social media wherein some students can be heard raising slogans against her. "I recognised some students in that group and mentioned their names in my police complaint," she said.
After the incident, the college's Staff Council held a meeting and unanimously decided to take strict action against the students. "We condemn the incident. Anything like this should not have happened. We have referred the matter to college's disciplinary committee," said college principal Manjula Das.
Denying all allegations, Satyawati Student Union general secretary and an ABVP member Kunal Yadav said they were protesting against Kaur's presence as her entry at the campus was "banned by the principal few months back". "Last year, she had abused some students here and after that, her entry was banned in the campus by the principal. Nobody touched her," he said.
Later in the day, Yadav also filed a police complaint against Kaur for allegedly "instigating the students" and "creating unnecessary chaos at the campus".
Interestingly, on this day, last year, similar allegations were raised by AISA members against ABVP members for disrupting an event at Ramjas College. The incident was followed by violent clashes between students leaving many of them injured.
Gurmehar Kaur, a DU student who was trolled on social media for criticising ABVP after Ramjas violence last year, also condemned the incident. "Seems like 22nd February is ABVP's annual disrupt-discussion day," she tweeted.
Meanwhile, Shaili Chopra, who is the founder of #ShethePeople TV, one of the organisers of the event, also condemned the incident.
COUNTERCHARGE
- The ABVP has denied that its activists have assaulted AISA’s DU unit president.
- ABVP member Kunal Yadav said Kaur’s entry at the campus was banned by the principal a few months back.
- “We were just protesting her presence at the campus,” he said.
- Yadav also filed a police complaint against Kaur for “instigating students” and “creating chaos at the campus”.
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