Srinivas seeks 10-days time to appear before Guwahati Police

PTI, May 2, 2023, 8:44 PM IST

Guwahati: Indian Youth Congress President Srinivas B V on Tuesday sought 10 days time to appear before Guwahati Police in connection with a complaint filed by an expelled Congress leader, alleging harassment and gender discrimination.

His representative visited the Dispur police station, where Srinivas had been summoned, and submitted his plea for more time, a police officer said.

Meanwhile, the Gauhati High Court has fixed Thursday as the next date of hearing of a petition filed by the Congress leader for quashing of the FIR by former Assam Youth Congress president Angkita Dutta against him.

As the matter was brought before the court, Dutta’s lawyer Pran Bora said his client has not received the copy of the petition and sought time to go through it.

The court then fixed the next hearing on May four.

Dutta had filed a complaint at the Dispur police station on April 19 alleging that Srinivas was ”persistently harassing and torturing her for the last six months by making sexist comments, using slang words and also threatening her of dire consequences if she keeps complaining against him to the senior party office bearers”.

She had also mentioned in the complaint that during the party’s recent plenary session at Raipur, the accused had heckled, held her arm, pushed her, used slang words and said that he would ruin her career in the party if she complained against him.

The police had registered an FIR under various sections of the IPC related to harassment of women and the IT Act.

A five-member Guwahati Police team went to Bengaluru on April 23 and pasted a notice at his residence directing him to appear at the Dispur Police station by May two.

Srinivas had approached a local court in Bengaluru on April 28 for transit anticipatory bail, but his plea was rejected.

Prior to filing the complaint, Dutta had made allegations against Srinivas in a series of tweets on the micro-blogging site Twitter on April 18.

The Congress had issued a show cause notice to her and later expelled her from the primary membership of the party for six years for anti-party activities.

Srinivas had also served a legal notice to Dutta demanding an apology.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) had taken suo motu cognizance of her tweets and written to the state police on taking necessary action.