Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office allegedly refused Minister for Women & Child Development Maneka Gandhi’s proposal to form a committee of four retired judges to probe the sexual harassment allegations that have surfaced during India’s #MeToo movement.

On Wednesday, journalist Abhisar Sharma, revealed that the PMO has instead decided to form a three-member committee of cabinet ministers to probe allegations.

Considering one of his cabinet ministers, MJ Akbar, has had to resign because of sexual harassment allegations, a committee that comprises of cabinet ministers is not even close to the minimum standard of fair and independent.

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“Now you think, what kind of investigation will the ministers conduct when the allegations are against their own party ministers? Can you see how the government is fooling you?” said Sharma in a video shared on his Twitter handle.

Sharma’s sources also told him that when Gandhi announced an independent committee for probing the allegations, she received a call from PMO.



The government is now setting up a group of ministers headed by home minister Rajnath Singh to examine adequacy of sexual harassment laws.

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PM Modi’s decision forces one to question if his government is indeed serious about dealing with charges of sexual harassment. If yes, then why did he shoot down Maneka Gandhi’s proposal to constitute an independent committee of retired judges?