Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is out on bail after being arrested in a sedition case, sparked off another controversy on Tuesday when he allegedly said Indian soldiers rape women in Jammu and Kashmir.
Talking on the occasion of International Women's Day, Kanhaiya reportedly said “we will speak up against human rights violations. We will raise our voice against AFSPA,"
"While we have a lot of respect for our soldiers, we will talk about the fact that some Indian Army men rape women in Kashmir," Kanhaiya was heard as saying in the video published by the Zee News.
Kanhaiya was arrested on February 10 over a controversial event held on the JNU campus to commemorate the death anniversary of Afzal Guru, who was hanged in 2013 after being convicted in the Parliament attack case. Kanhaiya was later released after he was granted 6 months interim bail by the Delhi High Court.
Two other students were also arrested over the event during which anti-India slogans were allegedly raised by a section of the students.
Granting bail to Kanhaiya, Justice Pratibha Rani had said the thoughts reflected in the slogans raised by some of the students of the JNU, who organised and participated in that programme, "cannot be claimed to be protected as fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression".
