Things did not go too well for JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar. On Thursday, Kanhaiya, who is facing sedition charges, was attacked on JNU campus by a youth believed to be an outsider.
According to students and teachers present there, the attacker called the JNUSU leader for an interaction when he was attending the "nationalism" lecture at the university's administration block.
"Kanhaiya went to a corner to talk to him where the boy started abusing him and following the argument he slapped him. Seeing this, many students and university's security guards rushed to rescue him," a student said.
University's security got into action and took the accused to the nearest police station where he has been detained for questioning, a police official said, adding his identity is yet to be verified.
Meanwhile, reports surfaced that Kanhaiya was fined Rs 3,000 in October 2015 for misbehaving with a girl student of JNU. The incident had occurred on June 10, 2015, when the girl student asked Kanhaiya, who at the time was not the students' union president, to not urinate in the open inside the campus.
The girl, who now teaches at Delhi University, alleged that Kanhaiya "misbehaved" with her when she objected and also called her a "psychopath" while threatening her with dire consequences.
Kamlesh Parmeshwari Kamlesh, in fact, in a post of Facebook on 3 March wrote an open letter to Kanhaiya, whom she referred to as 'Upholder of Women Dignity'. She wrote:
"I am eligible to write this letter because I have an ugly encounter with this newly found Che Guevara of JNU and therefore I know his real face which I should definitely expose. I had my first and may be last encounter with this moron known as Kanahiya (the president of JNUSU) in June last year when he was urinating on road in JNU campus. When I objected, instead of saying sorry he not only shouted at me but also threatened me of dire consequence and suggested that I should take psychiatrist help."
Following a complaint by her, the JNU administration held a proctorial inquiry that found Kanhaiya guilty. "The university... has found Kanhaiya Kumar guilty of misbehaving with an ex-student (female) and threatening her.
"This act is serious in nature and unbecoming of a student of JNU and calls for a strict disciplinary action against him (Kanhaiya)... keeping his career prospects in mind, the Vice Chancellor has taken a lenient view in the matter," said the office order issued on 16 October, 2015 by the then Chief Proctor, Krishna Kumar.
"Kanhaiya is fined Rs 3,000 and also warned to be careful and not get involved in any such incidents in future. Otherwise, strict disciplinary action will be taken against him," the order said.