Noted Female Citizens Write To Shah For Action Against Adhir

| Updated: 01 August, 2022 7:05 pm IST

Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called his remark as "slip of tongue".

NEW DELHI: Fifty-one retired female bureaucrats, intellectuals and academicians wrote an open letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, demanding action against Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for his ‘Rashtrapatni’ remark.

“It is our appeal to the Home Minister (Amit Shah) to initiate appropriate action against him as per law. This would ensure that such sexist and outrageous behaviour is never repeated,” the letter reads.

During an interaction with the media last month, Chowdhury had addressed President Droupadi Murmu as ‘Rashtrapatni’. He tendered an apology to her after massive protest inside and outside the Parliament.

“The sensibilities of every single parliamentarian were outraged. Every patriotic citizen of India has felt anguished and furious over this kind of insult shown to a Female Head of the entire Indian Nation,” it said.

Referring to the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act), the letter said, “One such offence includes deliberately insulting and humiliating in public view a citizen of India from Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.”

The signatories accused Chowdhury of insulting and humiliating the first tribal President of India “in full public view”.

Former CBDT member Saroj Bala, former Jharkhand DGP Nirmal Kaur, and other signatories demanded that Chowdhury should be made to apologise to all Indian women.