NEW DELHI: Amid a raging debate over the limits of freedom of expression and what qualifies as “anti-national”,the ABVP on Sunday lodged two police complaints against the varsity’s associate dean for giving permission to the controversial Afzal Guru event and professor Nivedita Menon for her alleged remarks justifying pro-azadi slogans on Kashmir.
While addressing a group of students in the university, Professor Nivedita Menon Menon stoked controversy saying “India has forcefully occupied almost 30-40 per cent of the territory, Everyone knows that India is illegally occupying Kashmir.
She allegedly said ‘India is an imperialist country and pro-azadi slogans on Kashmir are justified’.
The RSS’s student wing also lodged a police complaint against the JNU associate dean for giving permission for the February 9 event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.
“I request you to kindly take strong action against the concerned authority that had given permission and silently supported February 9 programme,” Saurabh said in a separate complaint.
The university had taken back the permission 15 minutes before the event was to start after Sharma had complained about the event on February 9 but the organisers had gone ahead with the programme.
While the associate dean was not available for his comments on the issue, Nivedita 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”.