On April 20, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) issued a show cause notice to Dr Angkita Dutta over the allegations she levelled against IYC National President and Rahul Gandhi’s close aide Srinivas BV. On the same day, Angkita Dutta filed a police complaint against Srinivas in Guwahati alleging harassment.
APCC President Bhupen Kumar Borah issued the notice seeking an explanation from the former President of Assam Pradesh Youth Congress Dr Angkita Dutta as to why disciplinary actions should not be taken against her. She has been given two days to respond.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has issued a showcause notice to former president of Assam Pradesh Youth Congres Dr Angkita Dutta who levelled a series of allegations against IYC President Srinivas BV accusing him of harassing and discriminating with her.
— ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023
Borah claimed that Dutta never informed him about the harassment. In a letter to Angkita Dutta, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee chief wrote, “I was not aware of the alleged grievances and was never apprised of the same by you. Hence, I called you the same day to discuss the matter with you. I ensured that if you had any issues they can be addressed at the highest level without making it a public spat as it is an internal matter of the party.”
Borah added that he had requested Dutta not to give any statements in the media as there is a mechanism within the party for any grievances, to which she had agreed.
“But you (Angkita Dutta) have decided to go ahead with public confrontation rather than heeding to party discipline despite my assurance to resolve the matter,” he said.
Adding that Dutta has not submitted any verbal or written complaint about her allegations to the Congress’ General Secretary in charge of Assam, Borah said, “such a stand goes against party discipline.”
The show cause notice was issued after Angita Dutta filed a complaint against Srinivas BV at Dispur Police Station in Guwahati on Thursday. In the complaint, she alleged that Srinivas made sexist comments, used abusive language, and mentally harassed her. She also added that he threatened her with dire consequences if she complained about him to the high office bearers.
She wrote in the complaint that the Youth Congress president “is persistently harassing the informant and torturing the informant since last almost 6 (six) months, not just mentally he has recently started harassing the informant by making sexist comments, using slang words and also threatening the informant to face consequences if the informant keeps complaining against him before high office bearers of the Congress Party about his ill treatment, misbehavior and sexist remarks using slang words full of threatening.”
In the complaint, she narrated a recent incident in Chhattisgarh, where Srinivas allegedly held her arm, pushed and pulled her, and used slang words to threaten her. She wrote, “Recently, on last 25th of March, 2023, when I was in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, I went to Hotel May Fair, at Raipur, Chhattisgarh, in the evening to meet the high office bearers of the Congress party present there, including Sri Bhupen Borah, the state president of Congress party, who were there at that point of time on the occasion of Plenary Session of the party. Suddenly I met the above named accused person Shri Srinivas BV, at the entrance of the hotel, where he heckled me holding my arm, pushing and pulling and threatened me using slang words, saying that he will ruin my career in the Congress party if I went there to complain against him before the high office bearers of the party.”
Angita Dutta added that she has informed the party’s high office bearers but no action was taken. “I, therefore, request your good office to take immediate action against Shri Srinivas BV who committed the above explained offences against me, by registering a case against him, under appropriate provisions of law,” she wrote.
Accepting the complaint, the police told her that they were looking into the allegations.
Indian Youth Congress sends legal notice to Angkita Dutta
The show cause notice came two days after Roopesh S Bhadauria, National Chairman of the Indian Youth Congress Legal Cell, sent a legal notice to Dr Angkita Dutta. The notice was sent on behalf of Srinivas. In the notice, it was claimed that Srinivas was a “well-known public figure”, and the allegations levels by Dutta in tweets and other statements were “sexist, chauvinistic, false and frivolous”, and the language used was “unparliamentary, undignified, defamatory and malicious”.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴:-
— Srinivas BV (@srinivasiyc) April 18, 2023
"When one person makes an accusation, check to be sure he himself is not the guilty one. Sometimes it is those whose case is weak who make the most clamour."
Whoever is found indulged in propagating/peddling false & defamatory… https://t.co/A41j6nvn8o pic.twitter.com/aewplKzI1w
IYC Legal Cell threatened to file a case against her under relevant Sections of the Information Technology Act and the Indian Penal Code.
Dutta has been asked to apologise to avoid legal action against her.
Notably, a day after receiving the legal notice, Angkita Dutta Wednesday filed a complaint against Srinivas BV at the Dispur Police Station, charging him with verbal and physical abuse as well as using slang phrases over the last six months. The police, however, are yet to register a case.
Dutta’s allegations against Srinivas
The Assam Youth Congress President took to Twitter to post multiple tweets on her timeline where she opened up about the alleged harassment she has been facing at the hands of National Indian Youth Congress President Srinivas BV and the lack of interest shown by higher-ups in her case.
She alleged that even though it has been six months since she first complained to the party bosses about Srinivas BV, Rahul Gandhi and others have not initiated an enquiry against Srinivas BV and are instead forcing her to keep quiet.
In her subsequent tweets, she elaborated how she had raised the issue with the higher-ups in the party, but no action was taken against Srinivas BV. She questioned why Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, who frequently advocate for women’s empowerment, have maintained a stoic silence on her issue.
