Needed to move away from 'turbulence in life': Gurmehar

Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, who left Delhi on Tuesday after withdrawing from her social media campaign against the ABVP, said she needed to move away from the turbulence caused in her life due to the campaign.

"My family was unnecessarily being dragged into the matter. Everybody forgot what the actual issue was. I am in Jalandhar to take a break from everything," the student of Delhi's Lady Shri Ram College, and daughter of an army officer killed in Kargil war, told IANS on Tuesday.

"My whole point was that the issue should be properly addressed. But it seems that nobody wants to talk about the issue, as they keep talking about me, and that doesn't make sense," she said.

"All the time, I see myself in media channels and everywhere in the social media. I didn't start the campaign for this. I am just 20 and this is not something that I asked for," added.

Gurmehar hit the headlines after she took up a poster campaign against violence on the campus allegedly by the members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The violence erupted on February 22 -- a day after the ABVP activists got force-cancelled a seminar at DU's Ramjas College, where JNU student Umar Khalid, charged with sedition last year, was invited as a speaker.

She left for Jalandhar hours after pulling back from the campaign, as she was allegedly getting death and rape threats through social media platforms.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police is in the process of zeroing in on the culprits after Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal issued a notice seeking registration of a case against persons threatening her.

--IANS

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