The Hindu : New Delhi News : ABVP leaders put behind bars for trouble on campus

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Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008
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New Delhi

ABVP leaders put behind bars for trouble on campus

Staff Reporter

Vandalism not acceptable in a democracy nor anyone taking the law into their hands, says court

NEW DELHI: Following a complaint by Delhi University authorities, the Delhi police have arrested three Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists on charges of vandalising the office of the History Department head on the North Campus on Monday.

The three -- former Delhi University Students’ Union vice-president Vikas Dahiya, Rakesh Sharma and Manvendra -- were on Tuesday produced in a local court which remanded them to judicial custody up to March 11. Denying bail to the accused, Metropolitan Magistrate Siddarth Sharma said vandalism was not acceptable in a democracy and that the activists could not be allowed to take the law into their own hands.

The ABVP activists were arrested on Monday evening after they vandalised the office of the History Department head S. Z. H. Jafri protesting against certain “objectionable” portions in the B.A. History (Honours) syllabus. They claimed that an essay by scholar A.K. Ramanujan titled “Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation” for the course on “Ancient Indian Culture” contained “offensive” references to Hindu gods.

The protesters allegedly manhandled Prof. Jafri, hurled abuses at him, and overturned the furniture in his office.

A day after the incident, condemnation poured in from different quarters. In a statement, the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) said the episode had shocked the entire academic community.

“It is to be underlined that the article objected to by the ABVP was included in the ‘Reading Materials’ two years ago and raising of the issue only now seems prima facie motivated and designed to lend a communal colour to the question,” it said, adding, “While everyone is entitled to have his own opinion on the rationale or appropriateness of a particular part of the ‘Reading Materials’, such criticism should have been made in a civilised manner and addressed to the proper authorities.”

Signatories to the statement included Irfan Habib, Utsa Patnaik, Prabhat Patnaik, B. P. Sahu, Jayati Ghosh, Ram Rahman and M. K. Raina.

Meanwhile, a number of Delhi University students and teachers took out a march to the Vice-Chancellor’s Office on Tuesday protesting against the vandalism by ABVP activists.

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association said the review of any work should be demanded by raising an academic debate and not resorting to “culture of violence”.Jawaharlal Nehru University, too, denounced the incident. “Whether it is murder of Professor Sabharwal in Ujjain, vandalising the Bhandarkar Institute in Pune, the acts of lumpenism against the Dean and students of Baroda University, or the attack on S.A.R. Geelani, the ABVP needs no excuse to engage in acts of violence and destroy the democratic fabric of our country,” said JNU Students’ Union president Sandeep Singh.

On the other hand, the National Democratic Teachers’ Front urged the University authorities not to allow “Left-oriented academics and their organisations to continue insulting the Hindu gods and goddesses in the texts prescribed in the courses”.

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