"CBI, ED Not In?": Light Moment At Supreme Court Hearing On Congress Leader

At the Supreme Court hearing of the harassment case against Indian Youth Congress chief BV Srinivas today, Justice BR Gavai heard the Assam government's lawyer's submissions - and then asked about the "ED and CBI" on a lighter note.

Srinivas was granted protection from arrest by the Supreme Court in the case filed by a former member of the Indian Youth Congress, who alleged Srinivas harassed her and caused "mental agony".

Srinivas's lawyer Abhishek Singhvi told the Supreme Court the woman raised the allegations of discrimination on Twitter before filing the complaint. Mr Singhvi said she gave six interviews to the media before she filed the complaint and none of her statement contained "sexual harassment allegations".

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, the Assam government's lawyer, said Srinivas did not respond to the police's summons and to the notice issued by the National Commission for Women.

To this, Justice Gavai asked on a lighter note, "So the CBI and ED have not yet come in?"

Mr Raju replied the matter cannot be seen as politically motivated as the woman who filed the complaint was also a member of the same political party.

"We gave him (Srinivas) a second notice. He says he is unwell. Consistently he is defying the notice," Mr Raju said.

"That might be because of your reputation. You had arrested someone at the airport," Justice Gavai said, alluding to the arrest of Congress leader Pawan Khera by the Assam Police at Guwahati airport on February 23.

The Gauhati High Court in its order had said the case doesn't merit a pre-arrest bail.

Srinivas's lawyer said all the charges against him were under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and barring only one section, the rest have scope for bail.

The woman in a complaint filed with the police in Dispur alleged Srinivas had been "persistently harassing and torturing her for the previous six months by making sexist comments, using slang words and also threatening her of dire consequences" if she kept complaining against him to senior party office bearers.