JNU rape turns political as students' union calls for protest against AISA, Anmol Ratan

After a 28-year-old JNU student filed a rape case against an All India Student Association (AISA) activist, accusing him of raping her in a hostel room on the university campus, national president of AISA, Sucheta De said that the association takes serious note of the fact that Anmol Ratan, a leading activist of AISA, is facing a criminal complaint of sexual assault. “He is henceforth expelled from the primary membership of AISA.” De said this on a Facebook post. Asserting that AISA will be “unflinching” when it came to principles of gender justice even if it involved a leading member of the organisation, She said that the association and its members stood by the complainant and “will extend all possible support in her fight for justice.” The AISA president shared the statement on her Facebook page.

De added that the police must not delay in taking all necessary action towards justice. “The University must also take disciplinary measures against the accused, and must extend all needed support to the survivor,” she said in the Facebook post. Vice-president of JNUSU Shehla Rashid and many others from JNU have shared De’s Facebook post. Meanwhile, politics over the alleged rape started brewing inside the JNU campus when the joint secretary of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) Saurabh Sharma dubbed Anmol Ratan as “Rapist Left Brigade”. Sharma called for various protests through the day and asked everyone to join a protest march — ‘Bekhauf Azaadi.’ Shishir Tripathi of Firstpost reported that Sharma has called for a class campaign in all schools of JNU from 10 am till 1 pm on Monday. Sharma also said that JNUSU will protest at the administrative block of the university at 3 pm and will ask JNU vice-chancellor to rusticate the “rapist” and justice for the survivor. JNUSU members will reportedly hold their evening ‘mess campaign’ from 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm in all hostels for “the justice to the survivor and to uphold our legacy of gender justice and to save JNU’s name, pride and culture.” “Please join us at Sabarmati Dhaba at 10 pm for effigy burning of the Rapist Left Brigade,” Sharma told Firstpost. Sharma also took to Facebook. Dubbing AISA as “hypocrite”, he said:

“Not mere an activist, but STATE SECRETARY of AISA : Mr. Anmol Ratan ( meaning a Precious jewel) is booked under 376/506 IPC for RAPE of a poor 1st year JNU Phd girl. Initial reports are coming that he even threatened The poor girl of CONSEQUENCES if she reports to Police.”

Anmol Ratan’s Facebook page has been suspended. [caption id=“attachment_2969404” align=“alignnone” width=“515”] Screengrab of Anmol Ratan’s Facebook page.[/caption] The woman in question is a first-year PhD student. She alleged that Ratan raped her on Saturday. According to the complaint filed by her at Vasant Kunj (North) police station, she had posted on her Facebook profile that she wanted to watch Sairat movie and asked if anyone had a CD of it. It said Ratan apparently messaged her saying that he had a copy. Thereafter, he picked her up on Saturday on the pretext of giving her a CD of the film and took her to Brahamputra Hostel, where he stays. She said in the complaint that he offered her a spiked drink and allegedly raped her. He also threatened her and asked her to not report the matter. However, the woman approached the police on Sunday and a case of rape was registered and further investigation is underway. With inputs from agencies