THRISSUR: Youth Congress state president and MLA Shafi Parambil on Friday, refuted allegations that the organisation’s leadership had suppressed a complaint of sexual harassment from a woman Youth Congress leader.
Addressing a news conference here, Parambil said the YC state leadership has not received any complaint from the woman colleague. The complaint she reportedly sent to the national YC leadership also does not mention sexual harassment. She has given a letter to the organisation that the news that is being circulated on her complaint was wrong, Shafi claimed. “If our colleague has any complaint of sexual harassment, she can very well approach the police. She has every right to complain to any level of the Youth Congress structure or the police. We will give all the support, including legal help to her,” Shafi said, continuing, “The normal procedure is to hand over the sexual harassment complaint to the police.”
Shafi also refuted allegations that the organisation was trying to influence the complainant to retract. “Even I have not spoken to her. DYFI has no moral or political authority to teach lessons on women’s protection to YC,” he said, adding that the practice of blaming YC based on a non-existent complaint should be stopped immediately.
