ABVP member serves legal notice to UP minister over 'goonda' remarks

ABVP

A legal notice has been sent to Uttar Pradesh minister and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar by an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) member, accusing him of making defamatory and derogatory remarks against the student organisation.

The notice said Rajbhar's alleged reference to ABVP, the students' wing of the RSS, workers as "goonda" (goons) and his criticism of their role in student protests amounted to defamation and insult to lakhs of students associated with the organisation.

Issued on behalf of ABVP member Adarsh Tiwari, the notice follows a clash that took place between the police and students, including ABVP members, at Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University in Barabanki on Monday. They were holding a protest over an alleged unrecognised law course.

Following this, the ABVP workers on Wednesday staged a protest outside the Lucknow residence of Rajbhar, as they claimed that the minister supported the police lathi-charge and called them goons.

The Uttar Pradesh Higher Education Commission subsequently ordered an inquiry, and an FIR was lodged against the university for admitting students without due approval.

While ABVP leaders demanded the minister's resignation and an apology, Rajbhar's son Arun Rajbhar condemned the violence outside their home, calling it "hooliganism, not student activism." University officials, meanwhile, denied offering unrecognised courses and maintained that the matter pertained only to renewal of recognition by the Bar Council of India.

Calling upon the minister to withdraw his comments, the notice demanded that Rajbhar issue a public apology within five days of receiving the notice and provide a written assurance within seven days that such language would not be used in future against ABVP or any other student organisation.

Failing this, the counsel warned, civil and criminal proceedings for defamation would be initiated against Rajbhar. The notice, dated September 4, was issued on behalf of ABVP member Adarsh Tiwari by his counsels Siddharth Shankar Dubey and Animesh Upadhyay.