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Gurmeher Kaur row: Everyone has right to express opinions, people issuing rape threats 'lowest form of life', says Sehwag

Sehwag has finally responded to the controversy caused by his tweet.

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After facing flak on social media for posting an image ridiculing an army martyr's daughter, former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag on Wednesday said his tweet was an attempt to be facetious rather than to bully anyone over their opinion.

Gurmeher Kaur, a Delhi University student, had started the campaign "I am not afraid of ABVP", following the violence at Ramjas college, which went viral and received massive support from students across various universities. However, on Tuesday, she withdrew from the campaign after getting rape threats. 

Taking to micro-blogging site, in a series of tweets, Sehwag said, "My tweet was an attempt to be facetious rather than one to bully anyone over their opinion. Agreement or disagreement wasn't even a factor." Further stating that she (Kaur) has a right to express her views, Sehwag said, "Anyone who threatens her with violence or rape is the lowest form of life." "Everyone has a right to express their views without being bullied or threatened. Gurmehar Kaur or the Phogat sisters," Sehwag tweeted.

Earlier, Sehwag had stirred controversy after posting an image holding a placard saying: “I did not score two triple centuries. My bat did.” This was in response to an earlier video by Gurmeher Kaur in which she had expressed that "Pakistan did not kill my father, war did."

Following Sehwag's response, some like actor Randeep Hooda agreed with his point of view while others like Javed Akhtar criticised him for bullying an Army martyr's daughter.

The whole issue then took a political turn on Monday after Union Minister Kiren Rijiju's comment questioning who was polluting the young girl's mind. Later, Kaur withdrew from her campaign stating that she had been receiving rape threats. "This campaign was never about me but students. Please go in huge numbers for the March. Best of luck. To anyone questioning my courage and bravery I have shown enough. One thing is for sure that we will think twice before resorting to threats and violence and this is all that this was about. I request to be left alone," Kaur said on Tuesday.

Ramjas College had last week witnessed large-scale violence between members of AISA and ABVP workers. The genesis of the clash was an invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid to address a seminar on 'Culture of Protests' which was withdrawn by the college authorities following opposition by the RSS student wing.

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