President of the Assam unit of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) Angkita Dutta on Thursday lodged a police complaint against the outfit's national president Srinivas BV, accusing him of harassment. Earlier, she had raised the issue and alleged that Srinivas BV and IYC secretary Vardhan Yadav had been harassing her due to her gender for almost six months.
In her complaint, Dutta accused IYC National President Srinivas BV of persistently harassing her for the past six months. She said Srinivas made sexist comments and threatened of dire consequences if she complained against him.
Dutta, while in her complaint stated, “Recently, on March 25, 2023, when I was in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, I went to Hotel May Fair in the evening to meet the office bearers of the Congress. Bhupen Borah, state president of Congress, was there for the plenary session. I ran into Srinivas BV there at the entrance of the hotel. He heckled me, holding my arm, pushing and pulling me and threatening me, using slang words, saying that he will ruin my career in the Congress if I complained against him before the high office-bearers of the party.”
Dutta alleged that Srinivas also threatened her to the extent that if she did not heed his warning, he would ensure that she cannot step outside the border of Assam for any party meeting.
Dutta added, “On several occasions, I informed the high office-bearers of the Congress about such behaviour of the accused. However, that bore no result. As I think that the offence committed by the accused against me should not go unpunished, I have decided to lodge this complaint against him.” Dutta urged the Assam Police to take immediate action against Srinivas BV.
Earlier, she alleged in multiple tweets that Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi, failed to take any action against Srinivas BV.
Angkita Dutta is the daughter of the late Anjan Dutta, an influential minister in the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government in Assam who headed the party's state unit.
Dutta said that she had appraised Rahul Gandhi about the harassment in Jammu during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, however, "still no enquiry" was initiated against him. “I had a lot of faith in Rahul Gandhi and went to Jammu during Bharat Jodo Yatra to apprise him of Srinivas BV’s harassment and demeaning use of language towards me. It’s April now and still no enquiry against him,” she said.
Congress leaders reached out to by ABP declined to comment on the matter
Angkita Dutta said, “I have filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Srinivas BV regarding the repeated humiliation and mental harassment that Srinivas BV has meted out to me for the past six months... I have not complained against the party but an individual. I hope that the Assam Police will look into the matter.”