‘Sexist’ remarks at JNU freshers’ party lead to scuffle between 2 groups

NEW DELHI: An argument escalated into a scuffle between two groups of students on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Tuesday night. According to Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU), the altercation began when some students made "sexist comments" about women students at a freshers' party, following which police were called to the campus.
"The freshers' party for the sociology centre was going on when members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) entered the venue. They started making sexist remarks about the women students present at the venue. When some of the students objected to this, the guards made the ABVP members leave the venue around 7pm," said a JNUSU member.
He claimed, "Around dinner time, those men again targeted the same students and a scuffle began. It involved 40 to 50 students. They also kidnapped one of the students for an hour, threatened him, and forcibly made him record that they were innocent. This went on till 10pm."
JNUSU members said they filed a complaint with police. "We have received the complaint and are inquiring into the matter," said a police officer.
The union said it also approached the vice-chancellor's office, the chief proctor and the security office on Wednesday. However, a senior university official said they had not received any formal communication yet.
Denying any role in the incident, ABVP said it was appalled by the lapse in security on the campus. "We condemn in the strongest possible terms the unfortunate incident that occurred on Tuesday night where lewd, sexist comments and derogatory remarks were hurled at the women students of the Centre for the Study of Social Systems. The verbal abuse and their harassment reflect a toxic mindset that cannot be tolerated in any space, let alone an academic institution like JNU," said ABVP-JNU president Rajeshwar Kant Dubey.
He added, "Even more disturbing is the fact that the JNU administration has not released the video of the incident that is being demanded by the student community."
ABVP-JNU secretary Shikha Swaraj claimed that there was no evidence to prove that any of the ABVP members was part of the scuffle.