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In the dock: Pramila Nesargi, chairperson of the commission, when files relating to VIPs such as MLA Renukacharya, went missing file pic |
The commission told a Right to Information activist that 890 files had gone missing.
Among these are cases relating to VIPs such as BJP MLA Renukacharaya, IAS officer Upendra Tripati, filmmaker S Narayan, and Bhagavantha Naik, son of a Congress MP.
Nowhere to be seen
"The cases are entered in a register, but the files are not to be seen," said Shalini Rajneesh, secretary of the Karnataka women and child welfare department.
She has written to Pramila Nesargi, who was the chairperson of the commission when these files went missing.
BJP legislator Vimala Gowda, who had raised the issue in the legislative council, said the commission was trying to shield the powerful.
"The commission has been partisan in some high profile cases, and interestingly, files pertaining to such cases have gone missing," she said.
The government has promised an investigation. Narendra Swamy, minister for women and child development, said, "We won't spare anyone. It is a serious lapse."
Political rivalry
Pramila Nesargi suspects her political rivals are behind the development.
"They want to block my chances of coming back to the commission as chairperson," she told MiD DAY. "In my opinion no file is missing, and if it is, office staff are responsible."
She had to resign as chairperson in November last year following the fall of the JD(S)-BJP coalition government, and was tipped to come back after the BJP government was formed, last May. She is still waiting.
How did it come to light?
- Jayasri, wife of IAS officer M N Vijayakumar, had accused
P B Mahishi, then chief secretary, of disrupting her family life. The commission had decided Mahishi was at fault. But the government had taken no action against him.
- Using the Right to Information Act, she had asked the commission how many cases it had cleared and what action it had taken. Shockingly, the commission replied that 1,188 files were missing between April 2007 and November 2007. Officials said they had found some files later, but declared 890 files were still missing.
- Government officials offer the lame excuse that files are missing when a tough question is asked through the Right to Information Act.
- The government issued an order earlier this year making it mandatory for officials to lodge a police complaint in case a file went missing.
- The State Women's Commission has not registered any police complaint although it says 890 files are missing.
Who will it help?
- BJP MLA Renukacharya: Jayalakshmi, a nurse, had complained that he had sexually abused her and threatened to kill her. She had released intimate pictures to prove that he had had an extra-marital affair with her.
- MP's son Bhagavantha Naik: He was accused of rape.
- Filmmaker S Narayan: He showed a minor girl getting married to the hero of his film Cheluvina Chittara (which means Charming Pictures).
- IAS officer Upendra Tripati: A woman employee of BMTC had alleged harassment.
