Punjab women’s panel chief seeks govt stand on Channi ‘inappropriate’ text message

Questions are being raised as to why the case has been brought out of the cold storage – Channi, along with fellow Congress leaders Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, has been raising a banner of revolt against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

The Punjab Women Commission chairperson has issued a fresh notice to the state government, threatening to go on a hunger strike if action is not taken against Technical Education Minister Charanjeet Singh Channi, who has been accused of sending an inappropriate text message to an IAS officer.

Addressing the media, chairperson Manisha Gulati said, “I had issued a notice to the government after taking suo motu cognisance of media reports about Channi sending an inappropriate text to an IAS officer. The CM had confirmed the development and he had even said that Channi had regretted and apologised. The case may have been closed in books but it has not been closed by the commission.”

Questions are being raised as to why the case has been brought out of the cold storage – Channi, along with fellow Congress leaders Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, has been raising a banner of revolt against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

When asked what prompted her to reopen the case three years after the incident occurred, Gulati said, “The IAS officers have been telling me that I am in cahoots with Channi, that is why I did not take any action. A couple of them told me at the Chief Minister’s granddaughter’s wedding in February that the complainant IAS officer had left the state and chosen a Central deputation as she was not given justice. That is why I have reopened the case.”

Asked whether Channi’s criticism of the government had anything to do with the case, Gulati said, “I have hit out at the government also. I have said that if a common man sends an inappropriate text to a woman then he is a criminal and if a minister does it then he is a saint… The government has not bought me. I have my conscience. Even if I have to lose my job, I will get justice for the IAS officer.”

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