Image Courtesy: marathi.hindustantimes.com
Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) assistant professor Sharad Baviskar lodged an FIR on June 19, 2022 against goons for abducting and assaulting him over a traffic dispute. According to The Telegraph, he was repeatedly questioned about his opinion on the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
On the intervening night of June 17 and June 18, the French teacher was chased by a vehicle near the Netaji Subhas Place flyover while driving back to his campus quarters from north Delhi’s Burari Chowk.
The assailants bumped into his car and stopped him near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station, where the men demanded that Baviskar pay them ₹ 2 lakh for allegedly breaking their car window. He was forcibly taken away when he suggested approaching the police station. Thereafter, the professor was subjected to a variety of abuse from having his beard pulled to being interrogated on his political stand regarding various political issues such as NRC.
The NRC, along with the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR) was among the set of schemes laid out by the Centre in late 2019, purportedly to weed out illegal immigrants by identifying genuine citizens in the country. Announced just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the laws had sparked widespread protest in India as people feared that the combination of these laws would affect Indian Muslims and declare them as illegal immigrants. Appearing as the leaders of these protests at the time were the JNU students. Years later, Baviskar says he was harassed while being questioned on this topic.
According to the newspaper, the eight to nine assailants made videos of his ordeal wherein he suffered punches, blows from a hot rod and had his shirt torn. His colleagues at the JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) condemned the manner in which he was confined to a residence in south Delhi and held prisoner for over three hours.
As he tried to reason with his abductors to free him, he was subjected to verbal abuse, physical assault, threats and financial extortion. According to The Telegraph, Baviskar saw a stationary silver Audi and later a Range Rover at the place he was taken to, although the assailants took away his spectacles.
The professor also recollected how they used his credit card at a petrol pump near Nehru Place and withdrew ₹ 33,500 using his debit card. After he was finally let free, Baviskar wrote a Facebook post about the whole experience and said, “I survived! Was kidnapped on my way back to JNU. Suffered a trauma! had to hand over my car, my purse and my person as they were many! My credit card is stolen! My fault was that the goons didn’t like JNU. They all claimed to be Modi supporters! They called me anti-national! Somehow managed to reach JNU after an ordeal! I have no faith in the system. Will trust people! Goodnight!”
Overall, the accused are charged with abduction, robbery, voluntarily causing hurt and common intention at Naraina police station. Meanwhile, the JNUTA voiced solidarity with Baviskar in the following words, “Throughout this extremely traumatic ordeal, Baviskar displayed exemplary courage and dignity that is inspiring for the JNU community, which stands unitedly in support of his complaint. The JNUTA expects that the Delhi police will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to apprehend the culprits at the earliest and in guaranteeing the safety and security of him and his family. The JNUTA also expects that the JNU administration will take up the redressal of Prof. Baviskar’s grievance with the police in all sincerity.”
Aside from being a professor, Baviskar also wrote ‘Bhura’ an autobiographical book that talks about his journey from rural Maharashtra to a professor in JNU. He was also called to speak at an atheist conference in Pune. However, the same was disallowed by the police citing objections from anonymous sources. Baviskar has also been involved with the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) that focuses on ridding the society of superstition. The MANS was headed by thinker Narendra Dabholkar, who was allegedly assassinated by Hindutva extremists in 2013.
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