On Friday, October 7, two Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs were booked for allegedly molesting a 32-year-old woman on board a train. The Congress leaders in question are Siddharth Kushwaha, an MLA from Madhya Pradesh’s Satna constituency and Sunil Saraf, an MLA from Madhya Pradesh’s Kotama. The woman alleged that both these leaders came to her berth inebriated and misbehaved with her.
The incident reportedly happened on the Rewanchal Express, in between Katni and Damoh stations, at roughly 11.50 pm on Thursday, October 6. The woman was travelling to Bhopal from Rewa.
Based on her complaint, the Madhya Pradesh police have booked the two Congress leaders under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 354 (assaults or uses criminal force on any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty).
According to reports, the woman in her police complaint said that she was sitting on her berth in the AC coach with her 7-month-old infant when both MLAs approached the berth in front of hers at around 11:50 pm. They subsequently sat on the side berth and started eating their dinner. While eating, the duo conversed with each other in filthy language.
As per the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, the woman further said in the complaint, “The MLAs pulled me by my hand and asked me to eat with them. They were inebriated and were giving me filthy glances. I felt uneasy, but I did not respond. One of them kept his hand on my shoulder. They were both speaking loudly and in filthy language. I urged them to stop speaking so loudly since it was disturbing my newborn. When they refused to listen, I called up my husband and told him what had happened.”
Following this, the woman’s husband, who is an advocate by profession, reported the matter to the Sagar railway police and tweeted about the same to the Railway Minister. Upon receiving the complaint, Sagar railway police rushed a GRP team to the woman late at night and she was transferred to another seat.
“At around 1 AM, when the train reached Sagar, a sub-inspector and two constables entered the coach in connection with the complaint. We have booked Saraf and Kushwaha under Indian Penal Code section 354,” said Sub Inspector Pramod Ahirwar of Sagar railway police.
Sunil Saraf, according to the victim, remarked as she was leaving, “Why are you going, why are you upset?” The woman complained about the same to the TTE and the Sagar railway police officials and demanded that the MLAs be immediately deboarded from the train. That, however, did not happen so far.
MLAs Siddharth Kushwaha and Sunil Saraf call the allegations baseless
Satna MLA Siddharth Kushwaha responded to the incident by saying, “The charges that I was intoxicated are baseless, there is nothing like that. Those who know me well know that I do not consume alcohol. We weren’t drunk on that day. We hadn’t even turned on the lights in our compartment because the child was fast asleep and we did not want to disturb him. In fact, we even offered our berth to the woman.”
Saraf, who boarded the train at Katni, also refuted the allegations. He said that the woman was sleeping on the berth allotted to Siddharth Kushwaha, which they pointed out and asked her for her berth number. He said that apart from this, they did not ask her anything. He also said they ate dinner in dim light to make sure the woman and her newborn do not get disturbed.
“If the woman has said such things, it is a shame,” said Congress MLA Sunil Saraf. “We didn’t even see her face. All of this appears to be a conspiracy, otherwise, how would the woman mention our age and which assembly constituency we represent in her complaint,” he added.
BJP lambasts Congress
It is worth noting that, following the complaint, a case of molestation under section 354 of the IPC was registered at the Sagar police station against the two Congress MLAs and further action is underway. Meanwhile, the BJP’s state president has chastised the Congress, alleging that this incident has exposed the party’s true colours. He claimed that although Congress MLAs molested a woman on the train, Congress party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, who otherwise lectures about women’s empowerment, has not come up with a word of condemnation. He asserted that she should now explain why she isn’t fighting for the rights of this woman.