New Delhi: Delhi police has assured a parliamentary panel that it is maintaining a strict vigil on the unfolding developments in connection with the clash at Lady Ramjas College and online threats given to a student Gurmehar Kaur. The assurance was given by Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik, when he appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs. In the panel meeting here yesterday, several opposition members, including from Congress and Trinamool Congress, flagged off the issue and wanted cops to act quickly against those who were responsible for issuing online threats to Ms Kaur. Even as city police chief assured that actions have been initiated and an FIR was filed in this connection, BJP members maintained that the issue of clash in Ramjas College could not be discussed without prior notice.
The Standing Committee Chairman P Chidambaram, however, allowed members to ask questions about the clashes outside Ramjas College and the online threats to Ms Kaur who had launched a campaign on social media against the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The BJP member Bishnu Pada Ray said the standing committee meeting has been called to discuss the demands for grants of Home ministry pertaining to central paramilitary forces and Delhi Police and thus day-to-day events could not be raised. While Trinamool Congress member Derek O' Brien countered him, the panel chairman Chidambaram said the members could Delhi police chief about some important issues concerning policing in the capital. Among others K Rahman Khan, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (both Congress), Majeed Memon (NCP), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (Trinamool) and Satyapal Singh and Kiron Kher (both BJP) are members of the 31-member standing committee on Home affairs.
First clash were reported from Delhi University's Ramjas College on February 22 after ABVP members forced the cancellation of a seminar wherein controversial student leader Umar Khalid was invited to deliver a talk. Khalid was last year slapped with sedition charge for February 2016 incident. Ms Kaur, who alleged that she has received rape and death threats, yesterday withdrew from the campaign. Her controversial stand on nationalism, friendly relations with Pakistan and 'martyrdom' of her father in Jammu and Kashmir also saw strong reactions from political stalwarts. While Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju wondered "who is polluting her mind", Ms Kaur got support from the likes of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. (UNI)