PANAJI: An obscene video allegedly sent from deputy chief minister Chandrakant Kavlekar’s mobile to a WhatsApp group caused a flutter on social media and in political circles on Monday, with GFP, a former alliance partner of the ruling BJP, filing a complaint accusing the senior minister of sexual harassment and outraging women’s modesty.
Kavlekar himself claimed to have been “fast asleep” and “nowhere near the phone” at the time the message was sent. He also filed a complaint with Goa police's crime branch that his mobile was “hacked” and used to post obscene material on social media.
“It may be noted that the message was sent to only this group out of the many WhatsApp groups where I am a member,” Kavlekar said, adding that it was “intentionally masked” in his name with criminal intention. The video was sent to the ‘Villages of Goa’ WhatsApp group.
GFP's women's wing said it was "seriously aggrieved" by the clip, and said that it amounted to sexual harassment since women, activists and government officials are members of the group. They demanded he be booked under Section 67 and 67A of the IT Act, 2000, and Section 354A of the IPC, as he shared sexually-explicit content with women.
“We cannot have leaders like this in the state. By remaining silent, BJP women leaders are endorsing leaders like these to run the state,” said state general secretary Clara Rodrigues.
Kavlekar said that there have been many such attempts in recent times to defame him, and project a "wrong image" of him before the public.
“I demand strong action against all such miscreants and unscrupulous individuals who have criminally hacked or tampered with my mobile phone and uploaded and transmitted obscene material,” he stated.
GFP, meanwhile, demanded that chief minister Pramod Sawant take action.