Assam
At least ten women Congress leaders on Thursday sought the intervention of Assam Governor Golab Chand Kataria.

Guwahati: At least ten women Congress leaders on Thursday sought the intervention of Assam Governor Golab Chand Kataria for an impartial probe into the mysterious death of woman BJP leader Indrani Tahbildar so that no guilty person would be spared from the purview of investigation.

Woman BJP leader Indrani Tahbildar died by suicide after her intimate pictures were circulated on social media on August 12.

Her death exposed a cash-for-job scam in the recruitment of third and fourth-grade posts in various Assam government departments.

Chandmari Police Station, which is probing the case, has already arrested four persons, including a BJP leader in connection with the incident.

In a memorandum submitted to Governor Kataria at Raj Bhawan on Thursday, the women leaders said the state government should take stringent action against those responsible for the suicide of Indrani Tahbildar, general secretary of BJP Kisan Morcha. 

“Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) expresses deepest concern in the circumstances leading to the suicide of Indrani Tahbildar and condemns the web of unholy nexus of cash for job scam that has been exposed with the arrest of some of the persons belonging to the BJP involved in the case leading to the suicide,” the memorandum stated.

This incident has shocked not only the people of Assam but also the entire nation, The memorandum said and added that the Congress felt that this incident also exposed the vulnerability regarding the safety and dignity of women in Assam.

“The leak of photos in social media by her own party men leading to her suicide speaks volumes about how social media is being used as a tool to compel a person to take the extreme step of ending one’s life. Moreover, the leak of audio clips in social media of conversations between the deceased and her colleagues also exposed the dangers of how people can be blackmailed through the use of digital media,” the memorandum further stated. 

“Since the persons who are involved in taking cash for jobs in the government related to the Indrani Tahbildar case have themselves revealed their involvement in such a scam and are already known and arrested by the police, they should be booked for corruption charges,” they said. 

The accused person in whose phone the photos were found along with others who circulated the photos and made them viral, all of them should be booked under cyber crime, blackmailing and abetment to suicide charges and under no circumstances they should be allowed to go scotfree,” they also said. 

“Their stringent punishment should be a lesson for every such person with a criminal mind so that they will think twice before using social media to defame any woman that compels her to take her life,” they further said. 

The memorandum was signed by Pranatee Phukan, vice president, APCC, member, Political Affairs Committee (PAC); Bobbeeta Sharma, vice-president APCC, member (PAC); Nandita Das, MLA, member (PAC); Roselina Tirkey, general secretary, APCC, Member (PAC); Mira Barthakur, president, Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress; Manjushree Pathak, executive member, APCC; Ballika Pegu, vice-president, APCC; Monalisa Baruah Hazarika, secretary, Media APCC; Barnali Phukan, spokesperson, APCC; Moinajan Begum, joint secretary, APCC and Mousumi Neog, join secretary, APCC.