Kudos to the English department faculty at Lady Shri Ram College, for backing student Gurmehar Kaur and supporting her right to express her opinion on issues that embroil our university. Kaur has inspired and instilled courage in many Indian hearts. We have to speak for justice. LSR is an inspiration to their students as it is an expression of the honest intellectual relationship that should exist between student and teacher. Passivity in acts of injustice is equal to promote injustice. Kaur who was labelled by many as an “anti-national” should be “ashamed” considering her father’s martyrdom. Here, Kaur is not an isolated case. It brings to front, that Indian society’s utter disregard for a woman’s own mind and her right to make her own choice.
She has triggered a movement for human rights while being a student at a University in India. There are many faces nasty abuses and threats every day. It is immensely gratifying for the teachers that she has responded sensitively, creatively and bravely to events in her immediate context rather than seek the safe refuge of silence.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
