AISA activist Prasanna Raj has been accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague in JNU.
“A heartbreaking incident came forward recently when a Masters student from the Centre for Political Studies (CPS) and an AISA (All India Students Association) activist named Prasanna Raj was accused of sexually harassing a female student on the Chandrabagha Hostel rooftop. Not only did he attempt to forcefully kiss her or touch her but also threatened her if she spoke out in public,” the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) said in a statement.
Accusing senior AISA activists of trying to shield the accused, the ABVP said, “The senior ‘comrades’ have been desperately trying to shield this atrocious act. Not one female activist of the organisation has spoken up against this despicable, vile assault. Not even the President of JNUSU, Aishe Ghosh, has addressed this crucial issue.”
Ghosh had contested the West Bengal assembly polls last year on a CPM ticket.
Exposing the hypocrisy of the Left organisations, the ABVP said that these organisations “first lure students into their organisations under the garb of activism but when their very own activists perpetrate sexual crimes against women, they keep mum”. Multiple posters exposing the rot in the Left organisations have been torn down at various places on campus.
Accusing Aishe Ghosh of shielding the alleged perpetrator, the ABVP said, “It has come to our knowledge that Aishe Ghosh shamelessly misled the survivor by asking her to approach non existing GSCASH and prohibited her from complaining the ICC. This was a classic textbook case of shielding sexual harassers belonging to the Communist cabal.”
This is not the first time Leftist students and leaders have been accused of sexual harassment and assault. Anmol Ratan, a state office bearer of AISA, had earlier raped a fellow student in his room for two days after sedating her.
“Akbar Chaudhary, Keshav Kumar, are just a few assaulters whose names should not be lost in the sands of time. Well, it wouldn’t be in vain to change AISA’s name to All India Sexual Assaulters. Due to such ideological and organisational flaws, around 11 activists resigned from AISA,” the ABVP said.
