‘Kanhaiya threatened me when I asked him not to pee in the open’
A former JNU student has claimed that the university’s students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar ‘misbehaved with her and threatened her’ after she confronted him when he was urinating in the open on the campus.
A former JNU student has claimed that the university’s students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar ‘misbehaved with her and threatened her’ after she confronted him when he was urinating in the open on the campus.
The incident took place in June 2015. Kumar was not a students’ union leader then.
This is the latest in a series of controversies involving the student leader. Kumar was arrested in Feburary on charges of sedition in connection with an event at the university in which anti-national slogans and those in favour of terrorist Afzal Guru were allegedly raised.
The former student, Kamlesh Narwana -- now a Delhi University professor, produced an unsigned letter by the JNU chief proctor from October 16, 2015 to support her allegation. She said Kumar was fined R3,000 after an inquiry.
“I was jogging in the morning when I saw him (Kumar) urinating near Purvanchal hostel. (When I confronted him) He shouted at me and threatened me. I have nothing against JNU but Kumar should practice what he now preaches,” she said.
The JNU PRO confirmed on Thursday that the letter was issued and Kumar had been fined.
In an open letter posted on her Facebook account on Thursday, Narwana accused Kanhaiya of being a male chauvinist and misogynist. “And then I face the wrath of a public urinating male chauvinist like you in JNU who claims to be a revolutionary! I could not find any trace of communism ideology in your behaviour. I am shocked to see how a misogynist like Kanhaiya is being hailed as revolutionary,” she said.
She also questioned the need to create fake sympathy by discussing Kanhaiya’s background. “What is the urgency of creating false revolutionaries,” she wrote.
Student outfit All India Students Federation (AISF) termed it a conspiracy to defame Kumar. “If the incident took place in June then why was letter issued in October. We started the Occupy UGC movement in October. Our leaders are being targeted ever since,” said Amrita, an AISF member.
She also said Kumar did not appear before any inquiry panel or paid fine.
