A Gujarat Congress leader was arrested on Saturday for allegedly insulting and causing injuries to a Dalit woman state Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer by pulling the chair from under her at party MLA Jignesh Mevani’s press conference in Bhuj in Kutch district, police said.
The woman assistant intelligence officer, Reena Chauhan, was on official duty at the press conference when Haresh Ahir pulled the chair from under her after she stood up, causing her to fall and getting injured when she tried to sit back, Deputy Superintendent of Police A R Zankat said.
Ahir is the coordinator of Congress Kisan Cell and was present at a press conference organised by Mevani at the circuit house in Bhuj. Chauhan was present there as part of her job, which involved preparing a report on the press conference.
In a post of X, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi condemned the incident, saying the Congress was “anti-women and anti-Dalit”, while Mevani alleged that Ahir was framed under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act frivolously by Chauhan at the behest of the BJP government.
https://x.com/sanghaviharsh/status/1819681003419623709
Sanghavi also shared a video of the incident, which showed Chauhan standing up to click a photo when Ahir deliberately pulled the chair from under her, making her fall on the ground after she tried to sit back. Because of the fall, she suffered injuries and was taken to a hospital, the minister said, adding the officer was shocked and depressed after the incident.
“Ahir was well aware that the woman was an IB officer and was present at the event on government duty. He also knew she was a Dalit, due to which he quipped that she was not worthy of sitting on a chair after she fell hard on the ground,” Zankat told mediapersons.
As per the FIR lodged at Bhuj A division police station, Ahir’s act was intentional and was meant to insult and make fun of Chauhan despite knowing she belonged to the SC community. It added that Ahir did this intentionally to inflict injuries on her, and that he knew Chauhan since the two had met often at various events.
The Congress leader was booked under sections 121 (voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant), 221 (voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions) and 133 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour person, otherwise than on grave provocation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have also been invoked, Zankat said.
Posting a video of the incident on X, Sangahvi said, “The mentality of Congress has always been anti-women and anti-Dalit. See how during a press conference of Gujarat Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani, his close friend Kutch Congress leader HS Aahir deliberately injured a Dalit woman officer by pulling her chair. This is a very condemnable matter.”
Hitting back, Mevani said the BJP government used a woman IB officer to target a Congress worker who tried to expose the home minister. “Gujarat BJP government and its home minister do not utter a word when Dalits are murdered, raped, their lands usurped and sanitation workers die in gutter. They do not get the cases investigated, no FIR or chargesheet is filed on time. When a Congress worker was trying to expose the home minister, a frivolous FIR was lodged against him with the intention of targeting him using this woman IB official,” Mevani told mediapersons.
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