Defending tormentor of woman officer by a women GeSec. of Congress is doubly disappointment.

Chandigarh, October 27: Taking strong exception to the way Congress general secretary Asha Kumari has dismissed the issue of harassment of a senior woman IAS officer of Punjab by a congress minister, former finance minister and Akali Dal leader Upinderjit Kaur said that she as a woman should have stood with the victim and demanded deterrent action against the predator instead of giving him clean chit.

Expressing her agony and shock over the explanation of Asha Kumari, Upinderjit Kaur said how she dare to say that “ Nothing had happened. Neither there is any complaint nor any one approached us” which is absurd and grotesque.

How could general secretary and in charge Punjab feigned to be ignorant and oblivious of the developments in the state while the entire Punjab is talking about it. Instead of waiting for somebody bang her door, Asha Kumar should have sou-moto taken cognizance of the issue, held preliminary inquiry and recommended dismissal of a minister who brings disrepute to the party.

Contesting the argument of Asha Kumari that the minister has already explained that the inappropriate messages were inadvertently sent to the woman officer, Upinder Kaur said that the minister should have immediately expressed his apology. However, the moot question is what type of messages the minister was sharing? Certainly, it was meant for some woman, rued Upinderjit Kaur adding that the ministers are role models and their private lives too should be ideal.

Lambasting Asha Kumari for asserting that “it was different from the harassment at work place and moreover the message was not known”, Upinderjit Kaur said the work place of the officers is not limited to secretariat buildings as the officers interact with minister at odd hours and even visit their camp offices at later hours in the evening for consultations. Moreover, it is the job of the general secretary to probe the contentious messages of her party’s minister before giving them clean chit.

Upinderjit Kaur said that Congress women leaders should come out in support of the woman officers as usually only a miniscule fraction of women workers gather cudgels to speak out against t heir tormentors. And if those airing their grievances too are silenced by legal niceties of absence of written complaint or the claims that the matter has been resolved between the victim and tormentor is dangerous for women’s over all security, she added.

“Let us women rise above the party lines and ensure that justice prevails and the tormentors are penalized”, advised Upinderjit Kaur.