Recently, an FIR had been registered by the Delhi police against Chirag Patnaik, a member of the Congress IT cell on a complaint made by a female member of the IT cell. The victim, In her letter to Rahul Gandhi on June 28, had narrated her ordeal and how even Congress IT cell head, Divya Spandana, did not come to her rescue after being informed about how Patnaik had been indulging in highly inappropriate conduct with the victim. In her complaint to the Delhi police, the victim stated that she had joined the social media cell of the Congress on March 5, 2018.
After this shameful incident came to light, it looks like the Congress IT Cell has run a signature campaign attempting to underplay what happened, to dismiss the victim’s version and to whitewash the accused and give him the benefit of doubt.
In response to the recent allegations against one of our team workers by an ex worker, please read the statement below- pic.twitter.com/4LVa5Hzoxk
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) July 3, 2018
Congress IT cell head, Divya Spandana, issued a letter clarifying her stance after the incident was reported by the media. The letter begins on a condescending note.
“The complaint committee does not have any complains written/verbal/official/unofficial from the ex worker neither do we have access to the complaints the reporter was talking about.”
This is a case that the entire country has been talking about especially on social media. This looks like an attempt to downplay or undermine what happened.
“We are writing this purely on what the reporter has told our current worker.”
Again, the undermining continues. It’s almost as if there is no need to really know what happened, it’s unimportant.
The tone-deaf characteristic of the letter continues to not only undermine the victim’s version of the incident but takes an ugly, despicable turn towards defending a man accused of sexual harassment because he is apparently ‘a great colleague’.
“The team has come out in support of the current worker based on their interactions and experiences of working with him.”
So to begin, they say in no uncertain terms that they are supporting the alleged molester. The basis of supporting him is that he hasn’t behaved in a similar way with others, is absolute hogwash. This absurd defence would have been laughable in any other matter but in a matter involving a woman’s dignity, it becomes a sinister and concerted effort to portray the accused as a ‘good guy’ thereby victim-shaming the woman.
The letter further states:
“The team has also recalled some of their conversations with the ex-worker and has no reason to believe that the current worker could have misbehaved with the ex-worker.”
Again, they have cast aspersions on the victim’s version and blatantly whitewashed the accused based on conversations. At this point, it becomes hard to fathom that the letter has been written by a woman and not by the accused himself.
And then comes the really dark end where any kind of subtlety is thrown away and replaced with whole-hearted support to a sexual harassment accused without even mentioning the victim.
“Please find attached the signatories of members working at INC social media team supporting this statement.”
So the social media team has come out in support of the accused of sexual harassment.
This is the height of shamelessness. They have subtly cast aspersions on the victim’s version, and tried to whitewash the deeds of a person accused of sexual harassment. It’s quite clear how women are treated in the Congress Party, and if the victim’s version that she didn’t get a response is true, now we know why. It’s a question of mentality. This is a highly depraved, misogynist bunch.
Surprisingly enough, the media has remained completely mum. The same media could lie through their teeth that people were defending a rape accused when they were demanding a CBI enquiry in Kashmir, but have turned silent when there is a real attempt at defending a molestation accused. Had this happened in the BJP IT cell, or any other cell for that matter, this is all one would have heard about for a month.
