11

Jul

“Mirror Mirror on the Wall…

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Amitabh Srivastava

Eight days from now, the controversial six-time MP from Uttar Pradesh Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, has been summoned by Delhi Police to answer a charge-sheet filed by Delhi Police about his role in the alleged sexual harassment and stalking case filed by top women wrestlers of the country.

The charges against him are under Sections 354,354A and 354D dealing with criminal force for outraging a woman’s modesty, sexual harassment and stalking.

The only relief and escape route for him seems to be that the case under POCSO has been withdrawn which could have led to his immediate arrest.

Under the circumstances what is scary is the confidence of the man. He is not being charged for demolition of the Babri Masjid but stalking, sexual harassment and outraging a woman’s modesty.

Talking to the media two days back, the concerned MP from Uttar Pradesh appeared so elated by these summons as if he is going to add another Bhushan to his name- Padam Bhusham, who knows?

But all through the agitation by the award winner wrestlers at Jantar Mantar, the infamous lathi charge and arrests on a day we had a posh new parliament that made international headlines, people have been missing dashing and voluble Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani.

Finally, it was the Minister for I and B and Sports, Anurag Thakur who was asked to handle the ‘hot potato’ and negotiate (what was there to negotiate) with women wrestlers so that the Prime Minister did not face any impertinent questions on his dream tour to the US and Egypt.

Finally, Thakur managed to persuade the striking wrestlers to postpone their agitation, promising action against the former WFI boss.The FIR and the charge-sheet are part of that deal.

So now we are to understand that under the present dispensation sexual assault, stalking and POCSO cases are not offences within the purview of the IPC to be dealt with MWCD but are sporting events with gold and silver medals in the near future?

Talking about this, Alka Lamba, former DUSU President and   spokesperson of All India Congress Committee told this writer,” It’s very strange that Smriti Irani has not opened her mouth not only on the issue of wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat whom the Prime Minister knows so well, but on any issue of molestation of women in her home state of Uttar Pradesh during her tenure of four years as MWCD. She did open her mouth in

defence of only one woman, and that is her own daughter when her name came in the news about her restaurant in Goa.”

She continues,”While Priyanka Gandhi Ji has been visiting all sexual assault victims in Uttar Pradesh and also sat down in support of wrestlers at Jantar Mantar, the party with the largest number of women ministers in India has not uttered a word. One indication of their indifference towards the plight of women is evident from the fact that they are not serious about the Women Reservation Bill even with their brute majority in parliament and it is not on the agenda for the monsoon session beginning July 20.”

                        No wonder, Smriti Irani who was made a Minister for Human Resource Development in 2014 itself even though she had lost her Lok Sabha election form Chandni Chown to Kapil Sibal, has been called the most incompetent minister during NDA 1.

Just to show how he did not care about public mandate, the Prime Minister, after bowing his head reverentially before Parliament, went on handover the Ministry of HRD to her because Kapil Sibal was handling it during UPA.

But such disastrous was her tenure that the Economic Times headlines of March 15 read,”Smriti Irani’s incompetence destroying higher education.”

Her own degree row from DU, the claim to a Yale University degree, the Rohith Vermula suicide, action in JNU where some of her close associates were suspected of creating fake videos to create the so called Tukde Tukde gang, suggestion to include Sanskrit in IITs, resignation of top avcademicians including the VC of Delhi IIT RK Shevagaonkar and nuclear scientist Anil Kakodhar were some of the issue that made her the most controversial minister in the Modi cabinet. Within two years she was transferred to the Ministry of Textiles and for a record third time in five years she was again transferred to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Madhu Kishwar Editor of Manushi a self-confessed Modi fan, was so angry with Smriti that she wrote she was not fi to be the Minister of even Jam and Pickle ministry

In his second tenure in 2019 time Modi handed over the Ministry of Women and Child Development because the earlier incumbent Maneka Gandhi was too independent minded and could take on ministers like Prakash Jadvekar if his views clashed with her fierce advocacy of animal rights.

For four plus years she has been holding on tight to the position without offering a single new idea (keeping the fate of Maneka Gandhi in mind).

In fact, in the MWCD she has tough competition from the much more aggressive and assertive Priyank Kanoongo, the Chairman of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) even though he puts his foot in his mouth most time he speaks.

Under these circumstances it once again falls upon the Judiciary to fill in the missing blanks and provide relief to suffering women wrestlers even though the BJP has some very qualified lawyers like Meenaskshi Lekhi with them.

It was left for Justice Justice Hina Kohli of the Supreme Court to have picked up the gauntlet who has advocated a robust mechanism to report gender based misconduct and time based redressal of grievances.

Speaking at a seminar on “Women empowerment through sports” at the Campus Law Centre at DU two days back she wanted helplines, establishment of independent statutory committees to decide penalties and punishments in such offences.

A recent news report dealing with Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Protection and Redressal) Act 2013 known as POSH, it has been pointed out that 16 of the 30 sports federations in India did not even have Internal Complaint Committees.

And the latest we hear is that Supriya Shrinate spokesperson of the AICC has questioned the silence of Smriti Irani and Prime Minister on this issues and asked them when Brij Bhushan Singh will be arrested.

 

 

 

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