Oommen Chandy sexual assault case: Congress says it will not ‘defend or protect anybody’
The former Kerala chief minister claimed that the charges against him were ‘politically motivated’.
The Congress on Monday said it will “not defend or protect anybody” after the police filed separate cases against former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Congress MP KC Venugopal for allegedly sexually assaulting an accused in the 2013 solar scam. The cases were filed on the basis of a complaint by the woman, said Director General of Police Loknath Behara on Monday.
“The law must take its due course,” Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev told reporters in New Delhi, according to PTI. “We are not here to defend or protect anybody against whom there is an allegation. She has every right to file a first information report. Police has every right to investigate. It does not matter whether it is Oommen Chandy or anybody else.”
The first FIR was filed against Chandy in the court of the Thiruvananthapuram chief judicial magistrate on Saturday. It stated that Chandy sexually assaulted the complainant in 2012, when he was the Kerala chief minister, in exchange for promoting her business. The complainant has also accused Venugopal of raping her in 2012. Behara on Sunday said a special team has been constituted to probe the complaint.
On Monday, he said the cases were filed based on a complaint from Nair. “Let the law take its own course,” he added.
But Chandy called the case “politically motivated”. He claimed that by filing the case, the Left government in the state wanted to deflect people’s attention from the Sabarimala matter.