By IANS,
New Delhi : The Mangalore pub assault has triggered a war of words within the National Commission for Women, as its chairperson Tuesday “nullified” a probe by a commission member into the attack on some young women.
However, Nirmala Venkatesh, who conducted the probe, said her findings were impartial.
After completing the probe into the Mangalore assault by a self-styled moral brigade, Venkatesh said that the pub lacked security and that women needed to safeguard themselves.
Some members of the Sri Rama Sene bashed up several young men and women in a Mangalore pub last month in the name of moral policing.
Apparently dissatisfied with the findings, commission chairperson Girija Vyas declared the probe “to be null and void”.
The findings also drew angry reaction from Women and Child Devlopment (WCD) Minister Renuka Chowdhury.
But Venkatesh stood by her report, saying it doesn’t really matter what the minister of women and child development thinks.
“We have done a very impartial probe (into the Mangalore incident). Who is Renuka Chowdhury to be satisfied or dissatisfied with our report? This is the National Commission for Women’s report,” Venkatesh told reporters Tuesday.
Her comments were, however, not taken very kindly by commission chairperson Vyas.
“Whatever she (Venkatesh) is saying is her personal opinion and not the commission’s. We have already declared her probe to be null and void, and we will take further decision after we meet Feb 6,” Vyas told IANS.
Venkatesh submitted her report to the NCW Monday.
The ministry conducted its independent probe into the incident and sent a two-member team to Mangalore.
Kiran Chaddha, joint secretary of ministry who led the ministry probe team, said she submitted her report Tuesday evening and that any comment on it can be made only after the minister goes through it.
“The team that visited Mangalore has informally briefed me about it but I would be able to comment on it after I go through the report,” Choudhury said.