Woman officer accuses Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi of sending her ‘inappropriate’ messages, opposition calls for his sacking.
Chandigarh: A woman IAS officer has accused cabinet minister Charanjit Singh Channi of sending her inappropriate messages on her mobile phone, marking the first #MeToo moment in Punjab.
While the incident is over a month old and was seemingly “sorted out” at the level of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, it has now come out in the open following the #MeToo campaign.
Opposition parties are now demanding action against Channi, who is the MLA from Chamkaur Sahib and the state’s technical education minister.
The chief minister, who is on an official tour to Israel, however, said that to the “best of his knowledge”, the matter was “resolved to the (woman) officer’s satisfaction”.
“The matter was brought to my notice some weeks ago and I had asked the minister to apologise and sort it out with the lady officer,” the chief minister said in a statement issued from Tel Aviv. “I understand he had done so to the satisfaction of the officer and thus the matter was resolved.”
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Complaint and a ‘mistake’
Although no written complaint seems to have been forwarded by the woman officer, she brought the minister’s conduct to the notice of one of her seniors who then told the chief minister about it.
The woman officer has alleged that the minister sent her multiple messages to which she objected but he did not stop. Then when one of the messages was sent late at night, she decided to complain.
While Channi, who is on an official tour in Europe, could not be contacted, one of his close aides claimed that the minister had “by mistake” sent an Urdu couplet to the officer to which she objected.
“The minister then sent her a message regretting the earlier message, adding that it was a mistake. The next day he even called her to apologise,” said the aide.
The minister’s aide said the two had never worked together and apart from that one message, he had not sent her any other or ever called her up.
Opposition demands action
After an English daily highlighted the issue Wednesday, the opposition demanded action against Channi.
Calling for the minister to be sacked, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of adopting double standards over the #MeToo campaign and dragging his feet in acting against the minister.
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AAP leader and Kharar MLA, Kanwar Sandhu, urged the chief minister to hold an inquiry, pending which the minister should step down from his position.
What’s #metoo ?????? No legal standing !!
Some one instigated IAS officer !!
Need to look behind the people who are instigating woman IAS officer ?
Once resolved, it’s closed……..isn’t it ????????