New Delhi [India], March 12 : Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Thursday said she has filed a complaint with the National Commission for Women (NCW) against Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over alleged derogatory remarks made during a function held on the occasion of International Women's Day.
Speaking to ANI, Badal said she visited the NCW office to submit a complaint regarding remarks allegedly made by Mann at an event organised at Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana.
"Today, I have come to the NCW office to file a complaint against Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He had gone to an event at Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana on the occasion of Women's Day, where successful women were to be honoured, but he used vulgar, filthy, and derogatory language against them," Badal said.
She further alleged that the Punjab Chief Minister made remarks recalling his college days while addressing the gathering.
"He said (Bhagwant Mann) that coming among you reminds me of my college days, when if there was a beautiful girl there, I would tell my friends, 'This is your bhabhi,' and he used words like 'patola'. This shows what his mentality is like," she said.
Badal said she met NCW Member Secretary Sudeep Jain and handed over the complaint, which will be forwarded to NCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar.
"I met the NCW Member Secretary and gave him my complaint. He will send the complaint to the Chairperson. I hope that the NCW will take action, summon him, and through legal proceedings make him apologise as well," she added.
Earlier in the day, the Punjab Congress had filed a formal complaint with the National Commission for Women (NCW) against Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, alleging that he made derogatory and objectifying remarks about women during an official function held on International Women's Day on March 8 at Sunam in Sangrur district.
The complaint states that the Chief Minister used expressions such as "Patola" and other colloquial descriptions while narrating the incident, which the party claims reduced women to objects of physical appearance and amusement. The Congress also alleged that some of the remarks carried communal overtones and were inappropriate for a public address delivered from an official platform.
The PPCC has argued that such language from a constitutional authority undermines the dignity of women and violates the spirit of constitutional guarantees of equality and dignity. The complaint further states that the timing of the remarks, on International Women's Day, aggravated the seriousness of the issue.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor