Bhubaneswar: After quitting as Orissa Assembly Speaker in the wake of sexual abuse charge by a woman against him, senior BJD leader Maheswar Mohanty on Monday said male politicians and government officials were particularly "prone to false allegations of sexual harassment".
Mohanty, who faced charges of sexual harassment made by a woman marshal of the assembly Gayatri Panda, told reporters that he was a "victim" of such a false allegation".
"No one can rule out the possibility of a woman employee creating indiscipline in an office by threatening senior officers with false sexual harassment," Mohanty said.
He said males, particularly politicians and others in public life should be cautious while dealing with
"indiscplined women employees". "Any one could be a victim like me," he said.
Expressing anguish over the "political patronage" extended to "such indiscipline" by a woman employee, Mohanty said this would set a "bad precedent".
"I am sure every male officer or politician will think twice before initiating action against woman employees," Mohanty said adding Gayatri Panda had framed sexual harassment charges against him after she was asked to explain reason behind her unauthorised absence from office.
"I issued a show cause notice to her on February 19 and she complained to the Assembly Secretary against me two days later," Mohanty said showing records.
He claimed a number of opposition leaders had confided in him that charges leveled by Panda were false. "But all of them supported a wrong cause to gain political mileage out of the controversy," Mohanty said.
Comments
0 comment