Demanding immediate arrest of former Haryana Minister Gopal Kanda, accused of abetting the suicide of his former employee Geetika Sharma, CPI(M) women’s wing AIDWA on Friday said he should be declared an absconder and his property be attached.
Activists of AIDWA marched towards Haryana Bhavan and submitted a memorandum to the Haryana government expressing their outrage over the incident which has hogged headlines.
Demanding Mr. Kanda’s arrest without further delay, they said police should move court to declare him an absconder and his property be attached.
23-year-old Geetika committed suicide at her Ashok Vihar residence on August 5 and in her suicide note accused Kanda and Aruna Chadha of harassing her. Both Kanda and Chaddha have denied the allegation.
Addressing the protesters, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat said, “This is shameful conduct from a politician and criminalization of politics. That he is still absconding and he was a minister in the Congress-led Hooda government shows that he enjoys political patronage. He’s trying to buy time and avoid police.”
Condemning the labour contract which mentioned that Geetika had to meet him at the end of the day, Ms. Karat asserted that the country had no definite labour laws and it was totally outrageous on Kanda’s part to allegedly include such obligations in her contract.
“This is not a fight for getting Geetika justice but a fight for every woman. We will take this fight against sexual harassment forward,” said Ms. Karat.
AIDWA National General Secretary Sudha Sundararaman said that they will be monitoring the situation and if there is no development in the next 10 days, they will take to the streets again.
