New Delhi: The Union government has appointed ABVP national president Subbiah Shanmugam, accused of harassment, as a board member of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) project in Madhurai’s Thoppur, according to a report in the Indian Express.
In July this year, Shanmugam’s 52-year-old woman neighbour had filed a case of harassment against him and claimed that he had urinated at her doorstep, thrown used face masks and garbage and harassed her on the phone after a disagreement over parking slots at the colony.
An FIR in the case was later lodged after the woman’s nephew, Balaji Vijayaraghavan posted about the incident on social media. The complainant’s family also attached CCTV footage of a man peeing in front of the complainant’s door to support their allegations. The woman later withdrew the complaint, alleging that her family was under pressure.
Subbiah denied all allegations and claimed that the video had been doctored. The ABVP national general secretary Nidhi Tripathi said that the Congress’ student wing, NSUI was behind the complaint.
Also read: When Your Inner Voice Starts Hating the Outer You, or Why I Resigned From ABVP
Several opposition leaders expressed their discontent about Shanmugam’s appointment on Twitter. “Appointing an accused in a case involving women’s harassment as a member of AIIMS, Madurai. Isn’t this insulting women?” VCK leader and Tamil Nadu MP D. Ravikumar tweeted.
Congress MP Manickam Tagore also demanded that the order appointing Subbiah revoked. “Unbelievable action by Health Minister@drharshvardhan . Madurai Thoppur AIIMS gets Subbiah Shanmugam as member . kindly withdraw the order and remove him from the committee. How can Dr Harsh Vardhan justify when the harassment of women is still pending?#RemoveSubbiahShamugam,” he tweeted.
“Is this an endorsement of indecent behaviour and also an incentive for other BJP cadres to follow suit?” DMK MP Kanimozhi tweeted.