New Delhi: A week after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Uttarakhand general secretary Sanjay Kumar was removed from his post following allegations of sexual harassment, the complainant has reportedly said that Kumar tried to forcefully kiss her twice, grabbed her on multiple occasions and sent her vulgar photographs while she was working at the party office in Dehradun.
“In February, I was assigned the duty of entering data of bank cheques received under the party’s fund-raising scheme, Aajivan Sahyog Nidhi. I used to visit the party office every day for the data entry work,” the woman has told Indian Express. It was after this that she came in contact with Kumar.
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“He would make indecent comments. At least twice, he tried to kiss me forcefully. He would regularly send me vulgar photographs downloaded from the Internet. He also sent me photographs of his private parts on WhatsApp but would delete them within seconds of sending them to me,” she has alleged, according to the newspaper.
The woman has told Indian Express, as she had earlier told Amar Ujala, that she had taken her complaint verbally to senior BJP functionaries and been ignored. “Eventually, I stopped going to the party office in March. Everyone I approached asked me for proof against him (Kumar), which I didn’t have. I was even told by a BJP leader in Dehradun that I was making a big deal of the experience, and that being sexually involved with male politicians was common for women entering politics.”
When the complaints had no impact, the woman has said, her friends told her to start recording phone conversations between her and Kumar. “When I had enough evidence against him (Kumar), I warned him that I would approach party leaders. But on October 4, he got my phone snatched through other party workers. I submitted a written application at the Dhara police station about my phone having been forcefully taken from me, but no action was taken on my complaint.”
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The police told Indian Express that no action was taken against the accused in the phone-snatching because “it was found that the phone had been later returned to the complainant”.
The woman had told Amar Ujala that BJP state president Ajay Bhatt was one of the people she had approached with her complaint. “I spoke to (BJP state president) Ajay Bhatt over his (Kumar’s) indecent behaviour, but he (Bhatt) paid no heed my complaints,” she said.
Bhatt told Indian Express that he had not been told of the complaint. “Someone told me that the woman has been claiming that she told me about Sanjay Kumar’s behaviour, but I don’t recall having had such a conversation with any woman… If Kumar is guilty, he will have to face the consequences.”
The woman has written an email to the Dehradun police detailing the harassment charges, and also sought security cover, saying she is “scared to enter Dehradun town”.
Dehradun SP (Rural) Sarita Dobhal told Indian Express, “The complainant has not yet asked us for security. We have asked her to come to Dehradun so that we can speak with her and, based on her statement, file an FIR in the case. She has told us that she will be meeting us soon.”