Time Magazine has included Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur in its list of Next Generation Leaders for 2017, hailing her as a “free speech warrior”. Kaur, the daughter of an Armyman who was killed during the Kargil war, had protested against the right-wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad for triggering violence at Ramjas College in Delhi earlier this year.
Kaur was at the centre of a controversy after a picture of her holding a placard against the ABVP-led fracas at Ramjas college in February went viral. A video of her from 2016 was shared on social media later. “Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him,” said the placard that Kaur is seen holding in the video.
Kaur received rape and death threats for the campaign, #StudentsAgainstABVP, which she subsequently dropped out of. The Delhi Police had registered a First Information Report after the Delhi Commission for Women sought immediate arrest of those who made the threats.
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