Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused the Congress of protecting Tehelka magazine editor-in-chief and sought to know if the victim will be pressurised not to file a case as Tarun Tejpal, who has connections with the ruling party and wondered if “secular philandering” is to be handled differently.
“The grievance of the citizens’ movement after the gang-rape of Nirbhaya in Delhi was that sexual assaults are always under reported. Is this what is happening in this case? Just because the assailant has connections in Congress party, the nation is deprived of the sage advise of P Chidambram, the caustic comments of Kapil Sibal and the exaggerated tweets of Manish Tiwari,” the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said.
Tejpal, the founder editor of Tehelka, was behind the sting in 2001 in which then BJP President Bangaru Laxman was caught on camera accepting a bribe.
“May be secular philandering is to be dealt with a different standard. We all wait to see if the young lady testifies to the truth or not,” Jaitley said.
Congress condemned the alleged sexual assault of a young woman and said action should be initiated against anyone found guilty of such an offence, irrespective of one’s position.
“On the issue of sexual assault, the Congress party’s stand is clear that anyone found guilty of such an offence, action should be initiated against him…This is condemnable. It should be condemned,” party spokesperson Meem Afzal said.