A complaint has been sent to the National Commission for Women (NCW) against Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over his comments targeting the mother of an opposition candidate in the recently concluded assembly election campaign.
The complaint was filed on Saturday by Sujata Gurung Chowdhury. Her 27-year-old daughter, Kunki Chowdhury, contested from the Central Guwahati assembly constituency as a candidate of Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), a constituent of the Congress-led six-party opposition alliance. Assam voted on April 9.
In her complaint, Sujata said Sarma had targeted her in the run-up to the election and circulated an image, alleging that she had hurt the “sentiments of Sanatani people” by consuming beef publicly, and supported “anti-national” individuals.
Chowdhury said the image – which was alleged to show her consuming beef – actually showed her with a pillow kept at the International Church of Cannabis (located at Denver, USA) and used by visitors to click photos with.
Chowdhury also attached a letter from Steve Berke, director of the International Church of Cannabis where he stated that “the item she (Chowdhury) she is putting up to her lips is a pillow, not any type of meat”.
Chowdhury said that following the allegations by Sarma, her personal photos including those of her minor son have been circulated on social media without consent, she was subjected to online abuse, harassment and character assassination and several unidentified individuals had circulated manipulated images and AI-generated content to “malign her dignity”.
She stated that these acts have caused her, her family and the minor son “mental distress and reputational harm” and it constituted defamation, character assassination, violation of rights to dignity and privacy, gendered harassment of a woman and endangerment of a minor’s privacy and well-being.
She also underlined that she was a private individual with no active involvement in active politics, and urged the NCW to take cognizance of the complaint and direct appropriate authorities to investigate the statements and online harassment.
She also urged the commission to ensure removal of the defamatory, manipulated and harmful content from social media platforms.
The chief minister has not spoken about the complaint yet.
