Union Minister Babul Supriyo says that he was manhandled and assaulted at Jadavpur University but the students painted an entirely different story. So what exactly happened at JU that afternoon? It was September 19, BJP's Babul Supriyo was attending a seminar organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, on the campus. He was there till around 7 pm with the Governor. Now various pictures and many reports have surfaced claiming that the hours that Supriyo spent on campus, he was heckled, assaulted, barricaded out by the students at the university in Kolkata. Later the protest escalated and it was reported that alleged ABVP members ransacked the university offices and set fire to a JU gate.
What happened according to Agnimitra Paul
Now, Supriyo was accompanied by Fashion designer-turned-BJP leader Agnimitra Paul. She also blames the students who chanted slogans like 'Babul Supriyo Go Back' and waved black flags at him. Paul has lodged a police complaint saying she too was physically abused and molestation by an “unruly crowd.”
She further alleged that the “rowdy crowd” tore off her clothes. “While we were about to enter the venue of the programme, a section of the rowdy crowd physically blocked our passage. They started shouting slogans. Gradually, the crowd claiming to be students of the university, became violent and started physical abuse, assault, abusive language and moral mayhem,” she said in the complaint submitted to the Jadavpur police station on Friday.
She alleged that Supriyo was also assaulted in a gruesome manner. “There was no protection of our personal security and dignity for almost four hours. I was subjected to physical abuse, molestation, outraging of modesty. My clothes were torn off and some of the assaulting crowd were even instigating others for further assault on me,” she added in the complaint.
Key Takeaways:
- Babul Supriyo alleged that he was manhandled by the university students
- The student protestors alleged that Babul Supriyo misbehaved with the few girl students
- The minister also claimed that the protesters tried to provoke him by “openly referring to themselves as Naxals”
- BJP leader Agnimitra Paul lodged a police complaint saying she was too physically abused and molestation by an “unruly crowd”
Speaking to India Today TV, Babul Supriyo said, “They kicked me, punched me, caught my hair ... pulled me from one end to another. These were apparently students. They hit me again with wooden sticks on my hand after I came down from the programme.”
Here is what happened according to the students
JU students were protesting Babul Supriyo, the union minister for environment, forest and climate change, with raising slogans. They had black flags and posters. “We were going to protest against the fascist government, put up posters, show him black flags but we never planned violence inside the campus,” said Debraj Koley, a postgraduate student of the Department of Film Studies, edexlive.com reported. “Once he saw the media he made our protest into a circus. He pushed us, so did his guards, stamped on us and did not even care if there were women in front of him. He was just rampantly hitting people in front of him whenever the cameras were behind him. And with all this continued the taunting — he asked girls why they were wearing 'skimpy' clothes, what they come to the university for, whether we know the full form of NRC along with calling us names. He went on to tell a girl to join him in his room and he will show her who he really was,” said Debraj.
“He (Babul Supriyo) went on to tell a girl to join him in his room and he will show her who he really was,” said Debraj, a postgraduate student.
“He wanted us to get agitated. He wanted a scuffle. Why else would he stay outside even when we said that we will make way for him to go inside the auditorium,” said one of the students. Once Babul went inside, the students decided to gather around for a meeting to decide their course of action. “Till date, no one has ever waded through a students' meeting on campus. The minister attempted to sneak out behind the auditorium and was planning to wade through the bushes to avoid us,” said Debraj.
“When the Governor came he told us that he just wanted to speak to the minister and we let him through but then he escorted Babul Supriyo to his car. So, we sat in front of his car and demanded a dialogue with our Chancellor,” said Debraj. “Right then we got the news that our union room is being vandalised and people are trying to break in from Gate 4. We rushed there to find that the miscreants have already broken in, destroyed the rooms, furniture, our certificate that were in our bags and everything else on their way and left. We locked Gate 4 again. The police just stood there throughout, did not move a finger. They kept saying they are waiting for orders. The goons who attacked us were not students. There were 30-40-year-olds who were burning the cycle tyres chanting Jai Shri Ram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai. They also threw acid bulbs at us,” added the student.
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