From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Former Congress MP from Assam Kirip Chaliha has found himself in the eye of a storm over his ‘derogatory comments’ made against a woman IPS officer who is posted as Superintendent of Police in Jorhat district, the home district of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
Assam State Women Commission has registered a suo moto case (196/13) against the senior Congress leader for making derogatory comments in a private TV channel based here against the IPS officer, Sanjukta Parashar.
The former Congress MP who is known to have sided with the group of dissidence MLAs in ruling Congress party, commented while participating in a discussion in a private TV channel that the ‘unusual proximity’ of the Jorhat SP, Sanjukta Parashar with the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was a cause for concern.
Earlier, chief minister Tarun Gogoi had condemned the Congress leader for making derogatory comment on the personal integrity of a woman police officer and stated that the State Women Commission should register a case in this regard. Gogoi said, “ I condemn such derogatory comments made against any person especially a woman officer.”
The dissident Congress leaders have targeted the woman police officer after Jorhat district police has launched a manhunt to nab the Congress MLA from Mariani constituency, Rupjyoti Kurmi, on charges of assaulting an Assam police constable on duty.
The dissident Congress MLAs and a few anti-Gogoi leaders in the party have tried to mounted pressure on the government to prevent arrest of MLA Kurmi, who is also one of the dissident MLAs.
They have even threatened before the AICC that 30 MLAs will resign if Rupjyoti Kurmi is arrested.
Meanwhile, Women in Governance-Assam (WinG-Assam) , a network of women activists in Assam, has demanded immediate apology and legal action against former Congress MP, Kirip Chaliha for making derogatory comments about the female police officer in Assam
It is worth mentioning that so far women rights organisation in Assam have remained silent on the issue though Chaliha had made such a comment on August 25 last.
The silence of women organisations have created resentment in the ranks of Assam Police who consider Chaliha’s comment demoralising for the force as a whole.