'JNU Yogi' held for sexual harassment of female student

Delhi Police on Thursday (February 6) arrested a student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), popularly known among students as the ‘Yogi of JNU’ for having a dressing sense similar to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on charges of sexually harassing a female student inside the campus.

Officials said that the accused has been identified as Raghavendra Mishra, a former Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) member, who contested the university’s last students’ union election as an independent candidate.

However, ABVP, the RSS-affiliated right-wing students’ organisation said Mishra has never been a member of the outfit and accused the Left student bodies of “spreading misinformation”.

@abvpjnu condemns allegations laid upon by linking it to a JNU student on whom allegations of sexual harassment have been leveled.The said student has fought against ABVP in last JNUSU elections.We demand a thorough inquiry and if guilty the accused should be punished as per law pic.twitter.com/ACA9MBdSUF

— ABVP JNU (@abvpjnu) February 6, 2020

The ABVP also claimed that Mishra had contested against its candidate during the last JNU students’ union elections.

“We demand a thorough inquiry and if found guilty the accused should be punished as per law,” the ABVP unit of JNU posted on its Twitter handle.

A complaint was received on Wednesday (February 5) and a case under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at Vasant Kunj (North) police station and the accused has been arrested, the official said.

Saffron connect

According to a senior police official, the accused who allegedly misbehaved with a female student in a hostel room inside the campus used to dress up in saffron robes.

The incident took place on Wednesday (February 5) and we have initiated an investigation into the matter, they said.

The girl told the police that Mishra had called her to his hostel room and harassed her. The security guards of the hostel apprehended Mishra when she raised an alarm, the girl told the police.

Mishra, who is famously known as ‘Yogi of JNU’ due to his similar dressing style with Yogi Adityanath, had issued a statement three years ago saying that he was a true supporter of ABVP, but the party never took the Hindutva ideology seriously.

In 2017, he had reportedly told the media that ABVP was the reason why Hindutva has lost its charm in the university.

(With inputs from agencies)