TNS and Agencies

New Delhi, February 28

Angered by “stifling of voices,” hundreds of university students and teachers today held a protest march  aimed at the ABVP as the controversy over free speech in the country gathered pace.Faced with alleged rape threats and a virulent social media backlash, the young woman at the centre of the storm, LSR first-year student Gurmehar Kaur, withdrew her protest against the ABVP, the ruling party-affiliated students’ group, which has been accused of browbeating those who support free speech.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The large-scale participation of Delhi University students, said to be largest in recent times, was remarkable given that the institution is not known for volatile student activism like Jawaharlal Nehru University.“The protest is essentially against stifling of voices on campuses across the country, including Delhi University. We want to reclaim the space to discuss and dissent,” said All-India Students Association leader in DU Kanwalpreet Kaur. Several students and teachers of Ramjas College  were last week beaten up allegedly by ABVP members for inviting JNU students Umar Khalid and Shela Rashid to a seminar on free speech, which was eventually cancelled.Gurmehar became the centre of a controversy after she launched a social media campaign against the ABVP, which immediately drew threats of rape, allegedly from ABVP members, and ridicule by a Union minister, a BJP MP and ex-cricketer Virender Sehwag.Union Minister Kiren Rijiju wondered who was polluting her mind. He later said his remark was aimed at Leftists and that Gurmehar was free to express her views. “I stand by my comments. Anybody who tweets on social media platform should be careful. But anyone with a contrary view should be allowed to speak. Gurmehar is a young girl and she should be allowed to speak her mind,” he told mediapersons.Gurmehar’s father Capt Mandeep Singh was killed in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on August 6, 1999, four days after Pakistani troops withdrew from Kargil.Today, as the march made its way through the North Campus of Delhi University, with hundreds of students of JNU, DU and Jamia, she tweeted, “All my friends. Our lovely faculty! how I wish I was there.”In an earlier tweet, she urged people to join the march, which is “about students and not about me.” JNU student Kanhaiya Kumar, who is out on bail in a sedition case, also joined the anti-ABVP protest.  “You (ABVP) can’t enforce a particular ideology on anyone and their should be room for discussion,” he said while addressing the protesters.The Delhi University issue was vociferously raised by Opposition members at the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, amid protests by ruling BJP members. The MPs asked Commissioner of Delhi Police whether security had been provided to Gurmehar in view of the threats issued to her. Within an hour of his being quizzed, he conveyed to the MPs that an FIR had been registered against unknown persons following a complaint by the Delhi Commission for Women in connection with the rape threats issued to Gurmehar allegedly by ABVP workers.NHRC notice to Delhi PoliceNew Delhi: The NHRC on Tuesday sought a report from the Delhi Police over allegations that policemen attacked a female student and manhandled journalists during the February 22 clash at Delhi University’s Ramjas College. In a notice to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Kumar Patnaik, the NHRC said it had taken cognizance of complaints and media reports against the police and gave him four weeks to submit a detailed report. IANS