Indian forces rape women in Kashmir, claims JNU student union leader

Kanhaiya Kumar’s remarks come a week after he was released on bail in a controversial sedition case

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar alleged on Tuesday that Indian security personnel rape women in the disputed Kashmir region.

“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,” Kumar said while addressing students at a rally on the eve of International Women’s Day.

Kumar’s comments came nearly a week after he was released on bail after he was kept under detention for three weeks on a contentious sedition charge.



“During war in Rwanda 1,000 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.

Following his remarks, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s youth wing filed a police complaint over his alleged defiance of bail conditions by making what nationalists believe were “anti-national” statements, according to The Indian Express.

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) on Wednesday 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.

“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,” said a BJYM statement.



“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.

However, Menon, who teaches at the Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory at the School of International Studies in JNU upheld that he did not make any anti-national remarks. “I don’t believe anything I said was anti-national.”

Further, Kumar’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 Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a right-wing all-India student organisation, 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”.



Meanwhile, a senior police officer said, “We have received the complaint and the matter is being looked into. No FIR has been registered yet”.

Kumar was arrested on February 12 in a sedition case for organising an event on campus against hanging of Kashmiri separatist Afzal Guru over a deadly 2001 attack on the Indian parliament during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. He was granted an interim bail for six months by the Delhi High Court last week.

This article originally appeared on The Indian Express.