New Delhi: Amit Malviya, Bharatiya Janata Party’s information technology (IT) cell head, has sent a legal notice to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member Santanu Sinha after the latter accused the former of sexual exploitation of women.
On June 7, Santanu, in a Facebook post, had alleged that Malviya engaged in “nefarious activities” including sexually exploiting women. Santanu is the brother of Rahul Sinha, a member of the BJP unit of West Bengal.
The notice from Malviya to Santanu reads, “…the nature of allegations are extremely offensive in as much as, they falsely allege sexual misconduct purportedly committed by my client. The same is fatally injurious to the dignity and reputation of my client who, by virtue of his professional profile, is a public figure…”
Seeking public apology and Rs 10 crore in damages, the notice continued, “I, the undersigned, therefore call upon you to issue a public apology and take down/remove your defamatory statement(s) given against my client across all public platforms within three (3) days of receipt of this legal notice, failing which my client will be constrained to take appropriate legal action against you, including prosecuting you for civil and criminal defamation at your risk and cost.”
“Further, I call upon you to pay a sum of INR 10 crore as civil damages for the mental harassment, agony and loss of reputation caused to my client that has been caused to my client via your Facebook post dated June 7, 2024,” the letter continued.
Speaking to India Today, Sinha said, “I am not saying Amit Malviya did misconduct with women or exploited them. I have just raised a question – will the Bengal leaders keep their posts by supplying women to leaders like Amit Malviya or others? We did see such things happen in Bengal earlier. In 2021, we had cinema actors having no relation with politics and they were given tickets. But I will stick to my allegations that there are some men in Bengal BJP, who are enjoying posts by supplying women to leaders.”
Meanwhile, the Congress party has called for the immediate removal of Malviya from his post. “The only thing that we seek from the BJP is, justice for women… The reality is less than 24 hours after PM Modi was sworn in, serious charges of sexual exploitation have been levelled against a very prominent office bearer of the BJP, the head of … Today we seek the immediate removal of Amit Malviya from his position. It’s an extremely influential position. It’s a position of power and there can be no independent inquiry. There can be no independent probe. There cannot be justice unless and until he doesn’t get removed from the post,” said Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate.
