Delhi: BJP spokeswoman sexually harassed, defamatory video posted online

The police said on Monday that a spokeswoman from the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), which is the ruling party in the country, filed a complaint after being allegedly sexually harassed. The BJP worker said that an objectionable video of her was also posted on social media.

The Delhi police have lodged an FIR against unknown persons for allegedly sexually harassing a female spokesperson of the Delhi BJP after a video defaming her was posted on social media platforms, as per PTI reports.

The matter came to the fore after a complaint was made by the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging that the video, along with misinformation, was posted against the spokesperson for insulting her modesty electronically, the police said.

As quoted by the police, the FIR registered by the BJP worker also mentioned that "this was intended to harm the reputation of the spokesperson by putting her name in the link of the video and defaming her publicly." 

The FIR was registered at Cyber Police Station of New Delhi District under sections 354A (sexual harassment) and 509 (insulting modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code, and section 67 (electronically transmitting obscene material) of the IT Act, a senior police officer said, adding an investigation has been taken up.

According to the allegations made in the complaint, offensive sexual remarks had been made regarding the spokesperson, who had nothing to do with the contents of the link, in order to damage her reputation.

Apart from the sexual harassment complaint, it was also alleged that a group of people had been harassing several female spokespersons of the BJP, and the ruling party has urged the authorities to seek action against such persons, the police said.

This comes in the backdrop of the Nupur Sharma controversy, where the BJP spokesperson had made some objectionable remarks about the Prophet Muhammad during a TV news debate, which was criticized by the Muslim community and Gulf countries.

(With PTI inputs)

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