Srinagar Mayor Junaid Mattu has denied sexual harassment levelled against him by Congress corporator associated with the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC). As per reports, the lady corporator has accused Mattu of “assault” and lodged a police complaint against him and his personal assistant.
Mattu has claimed that the lady corporator demanded “undue and illegal” favours for her family members. Alleging that the charges against him are politically motivated since the corporator belongs to the Congress, Mattu said he had not attended the office on Monday and chaired a few review meetings at his official residence. He says that the facts can be verified by gazetted officers present in the meeting. “At the end of the meeting, I got a call from my private secretary (an SMC employee) who said that the corporator barged into my office and physically assaulted the private secretary,” he said.
Mattu even accused her of breaking computers and fixtures in the office demanding that a shop in Srinagar be allotted to her husband and a job to someone she claimed to be her son. He has also lodged a police complaint against the woman and is in talks with his lawyers to file a defamation case against her.
The lady corporator had accused Mattu of asking her to ‘come along for enjoyment’. She even accused the mayor and his assistant of manhandling and abusing her in front of others.
Mattu is a former National Conference leader who was elected as the Srinagar mayor in November last year with BJP’s support.