State women commission demands action against KRK for harassing actresses on social media
Kamal Rashid Khan
Maharashtra State Women Commission (MSWC) has finally taken cognizance of the complaint against actor Kamaal Rashid Khan (KRK) for allegedly abusing female actors online and demanded action against him.
In a letter written to Mumbai’s police commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar on July 18, the MSWC has requested the police to investigate the matter and take requisite action. The MSWC sent the letter to the commissioner a week after the National Commission of Women (NCW) issued a directive against the controversial actor.
Mumbai-based lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee filed a complaint with the state commission on June 28 against the Bollywood critic. Since KRK used social media to interact with other Bollywood personalities, Siddiquee used his posts as proof of his actions.
In his complaint, Siddiquee alleged that KRK sexually harassed over 18 film actresses on social media platforms.
After the commission failed to acknowledge his complaint for a week, he invoked section 166 (A) of the Indian Penal Code and served notice to MSWC chief Vijaya Rahatkar. He also threatened to take Rahatkar to court for “willfully failing to perform her duty”.
However, after failing to get a response from the state commission for his complaint and notice, Siddiquee approached the NCW on July 4. In his letter to the NCW, Siddiquee claimed that the Rahatkar was chasing actor Salman Khan over his rape remark, while choosing to ignore genuine cases.
After the NCW intervened, the state commission took cognizance of the matter. But Siddiquee alleged that the MSCW transferred the case to the police without conducting any hearing.
Rahatkar, while talking to a leading daily, clarified that the matter was escalated to the police owing to their specialization in dealing with such cases. “We took time to understand the case as it was very messy. The Twitter proofs given to us showed that Kamaal Khan had been badly abusing film actors continuously. Since the police have the expertise to deal with such cyber crimes, we asked the commissioner to investigate and take action,” she said.
