Harassment complaints will not be settled internally, says Congress

Amidst criticism faced by the Youth Congress state leadership for allegedly ignoring a sexual harassment complaint by a woman leader against her male party colleague, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan on Friday said if the party receives such a complaint it would surely be handed over to the police and would never try to hush up as an internal party matter.

If any woman party worker has such a complaint, they can surely approach either the party leadership or the police, he told the media here.

''If the party receives such a complaint, it will surely be handed over to the police and organisational action will be taken against the accused. Such complaints will never be settled internally. If anyone in the party is proved to have misbehaved with any woman, they will no longer be part of the Congress,'' Satheesan said.

The senior party leader was replying to questions related to the alleged sexual harassment complaint by a woman activist of the Youth Congress against a state executive member, during a meeting of the outfit held in Palakkad last week.

Social media users criticised the state YC leadership for having 'ignored' the harassment complaint by the woman worker, which the outfit leaders had already denied.

The state president of the Youth Congress has been instructed to talk to all women who had participated in the meeting to ensure that if anybody has such a complaint, it should be handed over to the police, LoP added.

Taking a dig at the ruling CPI(M) which came under fire for not handing over a similar complaint received against the then Shornur MLA P K Sasi in 2018, Satheesan also said his party would not set up a panel to study such complaint if it is received, but would surely be handed over to the police.

Asked about the social media reports on a woman Youth Congress worker's harassment allegation against its leader, CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said if the woman approaches the police with a complaint, it would stand legally.