Rape Threats to Gurmehar: Parl Committee Questions Delhi Police

A member of the Parliament committee said BJP tried to obstruct members from asking questions about Ramjas violence

Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik on Tuesday was questioned by non-BJP members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs to provide details of action taken over the clashes at Delhi's University's Ramjas College and threats to student Gurmehar Kaur.

According to sources, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs met on Tuesday and was scheduled to have a presentation from Delhi Police over the demands for grants.

However, opposition members on the panel said they wanted to know details about the clashes outside Ramjas College and the rape and death threats that LSR student Gurmehar Kaur received after launching a campaign on social media against the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

A member of the committee, who did not want to be named, told IANS that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members in the committee tried to obstruct other members from asking questions related to the Ramjas violence.

“The BJP members said it is a current issue, we should not ask questions about it, and tried to disrupt the proceedings,” the panel member said.

However, chairman of the committee, former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said the members can go ahead with their questions.

We asked the commissioner about the situation, he said he would inform us by the afternoon over the action taken. However, before that it came out that an FIR has been lodged in the case of the student who was threatened.

P Chidambaram, Former Union Minister of Finance

The panel member said that Patnaik told them that the police is closely monitoring the situation and assured serious action.

Clashes took place at Delhi University's Ramjas college on 22 February after ABVP members forced the cancellation of a seminar ‘Cultures of Protest’ that was scheduled to be held on 21 February. They also inflicted violence on students and faculty members of Ramjas, when they held a march on 22 February protesting the forceful cancellation.