Sending Out Rape Threats Is Not an Act of Patriotism: Kabir Khan

Filmmaker Kabir Khan stands in support of Gurmehar Kaur.

The director of Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Kabir Khan, an ex-Delhi University student himself speaks to The Quint about the violence at Ramjas college and threats against Gurmehar Kaur. The filmmaker condemns any act of violence and tells us that he is shocked that the state is not taking any action on these people who are going out on streets and beating people up.

“You Don’t Agree with Somebody, Battle it out Intellectually”

At a principle level I think it’s really sad that any sort of form of not agreeing on any point or not agreeing on ideologies being brought down to violence. In a campus you are bound to have certain disagreements, you are bound of have certain difference of opinion, that’s what the energy of a campus is meant to be. I have studied in Delhi University, grown up living in Jawaharlal Nehru University. I have been a witness to this healthy debate always among students. I am really saddened by the fact that the student organisation of the right wing has reduced it to violence. You don’t agree with somebody, battle it out intellectually.

Kabir Khan

“Sending out Rape Threats Is an Act of Patriotism?”

I am shocked at the the end of the day, as usual the state is not coming down heavily on this and bringing those people to account. You are talking about hooligans and lumpen elements who are sending out rape threats to girls on a social platform. What kind of animals are we talking about here? These are people who claim to be nationalists? These are people who claim to be patriotic? Is this an act of patriotism? Threatening a 20-year-old girl with rape? So, I think it’s completely disgusting, the level to which the student politics has been brought down to by the right wing.

Kabir Khan

“Any 20-year-old has the Right to Express Whatever Their Opinion Maybe”

Everybody, not just Gurmehar Kaur, any 20-year-old has the right to express whatever their opinion maybe. It can go against the norms of what we think is correct, it can be against anybody’s idea of what is correct or not, but nobody can be stifled and threatened or bullied into being quiet. As a society it is our responsibility to make sure that everybody is safe when they are voicing their opinion. I mean it’s just going from bad to worse. First you have trolls coming out on social networks and now we have people coming out on streets and beating people up. And the fact that somebody can get away by sending death threats and rape threats to a girl like this, I am SHOCKED by the state it has all come down to.

Kabir Khan

Kabir’s Message to Gurmehar Kaur

My only message to her is I totally stand in support of what she stands for and totally feel that she has all the right in the world to express whatever her opinion is and if somebody does not agree with it please debate it, please discuss it but you cannot be sending threats to her.

Kabir Khan