A right-wing organisation called the Mahakal Youth Brigade, published a couple of videos on Facebook, with an open call for a march into the Jawaharlal Nehru University and hoist the "bhagwa" flag. The videos also appears to provoke hate speech against Muslims, and prompted the marchers to attack any JNU students who attempted to stop them.
By Sunday afternoon, the Delhi Police had arrested the person in the video who has been identified as 30-year-old Vikas Sehrawat, along with Raja Kumar, on whose phone the video was shot. The police said that they had made the video to "seek attention".
Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Ingit Pratap Singh said, "The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) office bearers wrote similar complaint where they alleged that the video promotes disharmony and enmity, using inflammatory language and also openly issuing threats of physical hurt." The accused has been arrested once earlier for threatening Congress leader Alka Lamba in a video, the police said.
A case was registered under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth etc.), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, and the police said that further investigation is underway.
The JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) complaint to the Delhi Police asked for protection for the students and the campus and for action to be taken against the organisation inciting violence. The students also urged the police to not allow the proposed event to take place. In a strongly worded letter to the Station House Officer of Vasant Kunj (North), the JNUSU said, "Considering the fact the the JNU campus has been a witness to similar acts of planned and coordinated violence in the past, with the events of January 5, 2020 serving as a reminder, it is appealed that all necessary precautions be taken to ensure that harmony and peace is upheld. Further, we appeal that adequate action be taken against the organisers of the said event and the administrators of the Facebook page for promoting hate speech and enmity between social groups." The letter was signed by JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh and others.
The Facebook page has apparently posted such videos twice now, with the first one coming out on the August 9. In the video posted on August 14, a man from the MYB, says that they will go to JNU to hoist the saffron flag, and no one can stop them. Using terms such as “tukde tukde gang” and “anti-nationalist party”, he threatens to plant the flag on these students’ chests without any repercussions. He says that they will shoot a live video of the action between 2pm and 6pm on Independence day, and JNU students are not capable of stopping them, and that they will force their way into the campus, and hoist the flag no matter what.
The page and the videos were widely reported on Facebook, and have since been taken down. The video clips are still doing the rounds on social media, though. JNU students have often faced the ire of political groups because of these anti-establishment stance and protests that have often shaped the discourse followed by the student community in India.
