‘Had You Not Been a Woman...’ MP Congress MLA Threatens Officer

“Had you not been a woman I would have held you by the collar and then handed the memo to you,” said Gehlot.

Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA, Harsh Gehlot, seen allegedly threatening a woman officer.

Photo Courtesy: Screenshot/Twitter/@Anurag_Dwary

MLA Harsh Vijay Gehlot from the Congress party was seen threatening Sub Divisional Magistrate Kamini Thakur in Saliana, Madhya Pradesh, on Sunday, 17 January. This happened after a Congress-led track rally event, in support of the farmers’ protest against the Centre’s three contentious farm laws, took place in Ratlam district.

The video of the incident, which has been doing the rounds on social media shows Gehlot saying, “You are a woman. Had you not been a woman I would have held you by the collar and then handed the memo to you.”

The MLA then led a crowd to Thakur’s office to submit the memorandum, and her delay in stepping out led to Gehlot’s aggressive comments, reported NDTV.

Not an Isolated Incident

In a previous incident, Sajjan Singh Verma, senior Congress MLA from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, had stirred up a controversy on Wednesday, 13 January, for his regressive comments on a woman’s marriageable age.

"When girls can reproduce at 15 years, why raise their marriageable age from 18 to 21 years," said the former PWD minister, according to ANI.

Adding that women are "ready for reproduction" by the time they are 15 years old, Verma said, "This is not my finding. As per doctors' report, girls are suitable for child bearing at 15 years of age. Owing to it alone, a girl is considered to be mature enough for marriage at a minimum age of 18 years."

The minister further said, “Girls should go to their sasural (in-laws home) and be happy after they turn 18.”

His remarks come days after MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the minimum marriage age for girls should be raised from 18 years to 21 years, while inaugurating ‘Samman’, an initiative to create awareness about crimes against women.

(With inputs from NDTV and The Indian Express.)