Bhuj: A Gujarat Congress leader was booked on Saturday for allegedly insulting and causing injuries to a Dalit woman state intelligence bureau official by pulling the chair from under her at a party MLA's press conference in Bhuj in Kutch district, police said.
The woman assistant intelligence officer was on official duty at the press conference when Haresh Ahir pulled the chair from under her after she stood up, causing her to fall and getting injured when she tried to sit back, Deputy Superintendent of Police AR Zankat said.
Ahir is the coordinator of Congress Kisan Cell and was present at a press conference organised by Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani at the circuit house in Bhuj where the incident occurred.
IB official Reena Chauhan was present there as part of her job, which involved preparing a report on the press conference, officials said.
In a post of X, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi condemned the incident and said the Congress was "anti-women and anti-Dalit", while Mevani alleged Ahir was framed under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act frivolously by the woman official at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party government.
Sanghavi also shared the video of the incident, which showed Chauhan standing up to click a photo when Ahir deliberately pulled the chair from under her, making her fall on the ground after she tried to sit back.
Because of the fall, she suffered injuries and was taken to a hospital, the minister said, adding the woman official was shocked and depressed after the incident.
Ahir was well aware that the woman was an IB official and was present at the event on government duty and he also knew she was a Dalit, due to which he quipped that she was not worthy of sitting on a chair, the Deputy SP told reporters.
"She fell hard on the ground, after which he told her she was not worth sitting on the chair," Zankat said.
As per the FIR lodged at Bhuj A-division police station, Ahir's act was intentional and was meant to insult and make fun of her despite knowing she belonged to the Scheduled Caste community.
The FIR also stated Ahir did this intentionally to inflict injuries on her, adding he knew Chauhan since the two had met often at various events.
The Congress leader was booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 121 (voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant), 221 (voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions) and 133 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour person, otherwise than on grave provocation).
The provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have also been invoked, the Deputy SP informed.
Posting a video of the incident on X, Sangahvi said, "The mentality of Congress has always been anti-women and anti-Dalit. See how during a press conference of Gujarat Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani, his close friend Kutch Congress leader HS Aahir deliberately injured a Dalit woman officer by pulling her chair. This is a very condemnable matter." Hitting back, Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani said the BJP government used a woman IB official to target a Congress worker who tried to expose the home minister.
"Gujarat BJP government and its home minister do not utter a word when Dalits are murdered, raped, their lands usurped and sanitation workers die in gutter. They do not get the cases investigated, no FIR or chargesheet is filed on time. When a Congress worker was trying to expose the home minister, a frivolous FIR was lodged against him with the intention of targeting him using this woman IB official," Mevani told reporters.
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