Fresh row? BJYM files complaint against Kanhaiya Kumar, JNU prof Nivedita Menon over 'anti-national' remarks

JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar found himself in a spot on  over remarks made by him at a student's gathering on women's day with the BJP's youth wing filing a police complaint over his alleged defiance of bail conditions by making "anti-national" statements.

"No matter how much you try to stop us, we will speak up against human rights violations. We will raise our voice against AFSPA. While we have a lot of respect for our soldiers, we will still talk about the fact that in Kashmir women are raped by security personnel," Kanhaiya said while addressing students at a women's day march late last night. "During war in Rwanda 1000 women were raped. In Africa during the ethnic conflict, when military attacks other group firstly their women were raped. You take example of Gujarat, women were not just killed but were raped first," he added.

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha today filed a complaint in Vasant Vihar police station against Kanhaiya and JNU professor Nivedita Menon saying they made "anti-national" statements in the aftermath of February 9 event. A senior police officer said, "we have received the complaint and the matter is being looked into. No FIR has been registered yet".

"Despite the submission of an undertaking before court, Kanhaiya has yet again addressed a gathering of students and uttered poisonous words against the Indian Army, labelling them as rapists of Kashmiri Women," a BJYM statement said. "JNU professor Nivedita Menon has been spewing hatred against the Indian Armed Forces in public meetings as well.

She made statements like it is recognized worldwide that India is illegally occupying Kashmir," it added. When contacted Menon, who teaches at the Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory at the School of International Studies in JNU said, " I don't believe anything I said was anti-national". 

Kanhaiya's party All India Students Federation (AISF) maintained that, "he made the remarks in context of atrocities on women worldwide and not just in Kashmir. He in no way meant to demean Army or any other force and he clarified that in his speech too". The ABVP which had objected to the February 9 event as well, issued a statement saying, "the judge in her order also advised Kanhaiaya to not forget the contribution of those sacrificing lives on borders. His statement is an attack on Indian Army".

Kanhaiya was arrested on February 12 in a sedition case over an event on campus against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. He was granted an interim bail for six months by Delhi High Court last week.