Congress IT cell worker accused of sexually harassing ex-colleague

A Congress IT cell worker, by the name of Chirag Patnaik has been accused of sexually harassing an ex-colleague also, working with the social media and IT team of Congress. In the complaint filed by the woman, she laments at the apathy shown to her by the Social Media Head of Congress, Divya Spandana. She has accused Divya of not only ignoring her pleas, but also insulting her work on an Whatsapp office group, thereby mentally harassing her. The victim states that the accused used to stare ‘at the contours’ of her body and used to make her feel extremely uncomfortable.

The Delhi Police has filed an FIR against Congress IT Media Cell member Chirag Patnaik. FIR was registered after a woman in the social media team filed a complaint against him, state reports.

This complaints is a major jolt to the pro-women stand by the Congress. This is the official complaint filed by the woman against Chirag Patnaik. This is the official complaint as tweeted by Jeetendra Sharma of Zee News.

Complaint against Chirag Patnaik of @INCIndia. pic.twitter.com/Da8GmeTgAo

— Jitender Sharma (@capt_ivane) July 3, 2018

She was forced to resign from the Congress IT media cell when no one from the party heard her complaint.

CNN-News18 also reported that another woman resigned from the party’s media cell after the complaint against Patnaik.

However, Divya Spandana, chairperson of Congress’ social media, posted a statement on Twitter in which she said that “the complaints committee (of the Congress) does not have any complaint written/verbal/official/unofficial from the ex-worker neither do we have access to the complaint the reporter was talking about (sic).”

In response to the recent allegations against one of our team workers by an ex worker, please read the statement below- pic.twitter.com/4LVa5Hzoxk

— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) July 3, 2018

Spandana also stated that “the reason stated by the ex-worker for her stepping down was due to personal reasons and health issues and not related to the worker in any manner whatsoever.”

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BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia lashed out at the Congress over this issue. “This issue of sexual harassment was raised and Divya Spandana did not take it seriously. Rather, she remained inactive,” he said.

“Why do you have to cast aspersions on a former employee of your party? She worked for you (Congress), you should be open to probe,” Bhatia further said.

Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury said Congress is verifying the facts of the case. “Congress is verifying the facts of the case. Once truth is established, action will be taken. We have zero tolerance for such issues,” News18 quoted her as saying.