All India Mahila Congress (AIMC) and Delhi Mahila Congress on Monday submitted a complaint here at Parliament Street Police station against the ‘misogynistic’ social media campaign against Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi.
Taking serious cognizance of the recent spate of offensive comments on social media against Ms Priyanka Gandhi Vadra under the subject of ’56’, All India Mahila Congress President Sushmita Dev along with the Delhi Pradesh Mahila Congress President Sharmistha Mukherjee and others on Monday strongly condemned the dastardly act and filed a complaint at the police station against ‘Unknown Persons’ for ‘spreading distasteful and offensive tweets/pictures of the AICC General Secretary’.
‘In particular one, Yogi Sanjay Nath’s tweet is disgraceful. This is exactly the kind of misogyny that act as a deterrent for women to enter politics. To objectify women and humiliate them is shameful. AIMC cannot be silent bystanders given that the INC has a rich history of empowering women in Politics and in all other spheres of life,’ All India Mahila Congress said in a statement.
Terming this latest episode a part of a greater co-ordinated effort to smear the name and reputation of Ms Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who has recently joined active politics, Ms Dev called out the opposing forces and fringe groups “who have been attempting to discredit Priyanka Gandhi Vadra by using distasteful, offensive and repulsive tweets/pictures of Ms Priyanka Gandhi Vadra”.
‘Considering that tweets/pictures are being tweeted, shared and re-tweeted through various accounts though content remains the same with the mala fide intent to insult her modesty, the tweets/pictures even amount to sexual harassment, which is a penal offence under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860,’Ms Dev said in her complaint.
In this age of cyber policing and much advertised curbs on offensive material online, she said it is surprising that the perpetrators are publishing the same without any fear or concern of the law of the land and without considering the far-reaching consequences of such acts on society.
A delegation of Mahila Congress led by AIMC President Ms Sushmita Dev and Delhi Pradesh Mahila Congress submitted the complaint at the Sansad Marg Police Station.
The complaint outlines charges amounting to serious offences under Sections 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 499 (Defamation), 501 (Printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 354-A (Sexual Harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), and 294 (Obscene acts and songs) of IPC, 67 (Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) and 67-A (Punishment for publishing and transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form) of the IT Act, and other relevant provisions.
Screenshots of such tweets/pictures are attached with the complaint.
The FIR will be lodged across the country in every State with Pradesh Mahila Congress cadre registering complaint in their respective District HQ.(UNI)