Congress expels senior Karnataka leader over alleged sexual harassment of teacher

The teacher worked in a school run by Mr. Naidu.

Bengaluru:

The Karnataka Congress party expelled state general secretary Gurappa Naidu on Saturday following allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Disciplinary Committee Chairman K. Rahman Khan issued an order expelling Gurappa Naidu from the party.

“Amidst the filing of a sexual harassment case against state general secretary Gurappa Naidu, he was expelled from the party core for six years,” the decree said.

The Karnataka state police on Thursday registered a case against a state Congress representative for allegedly sexually harassing a female teacher at a school he ran in Bengaluru. A complaint has been registered at the Chennammanakere Achukattu police station against Gurappa Naidu, the general secretary of the state Congress and also the head of BGS Bloom School.

The police have registered a case under sections 354 (a) of the IPC (sexual harassment), 354 (assault or violence against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 506 (criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insults causing offence). of peace) and 509 (actions, words or gestures that offend the modesty of a woman). These incidents are said to have occurred between 2021 and 2023.

In her statement to the police, the victim said, “The accused Gurappa Naidu sexually exploited the gullible female employees of his school. He used them and also raped them. He records these actions on video and blackmails them.”

The teacher told the police that she worked in a school run by the accused and that more than 75 percent of the staff were women and belonged to the middle and poor classes. Many of their children studied in the same school.

In her complaint, the victim said, “Accused Gurappa Naidu is a womanizer who harasses women and spares no one. Everyone at school is afraid of him and he uses women as he pleases.’

“The accused makes vulgar and nude videos with women and blackmails them. He threatens them that if they don’t do exactly as he says, their videos will go viral. He also threatens female employees if they dare to file a complaint with the police,” said the victim.

The survivor also recalled, “Gurappa Naidu exploited many women employees who belonged to the poor and weaker sections of the population. They cannot bear the trauma and are forced to live in fear. Although they wanted to file a complaint against him, given his influence and fearing a negative reaction from the families, they decided not to file a complaint with the police.”

“I have been working at the school for three years. The accused called me to his room and repeatedly asked when I was going to get together. Earlier, he looked at me, causing mental trauma,” she said.

“Gurappa Naidu’s behavior was vulgar. He spoke obscenely and dragged me to his room. When I told him not to do such things with me, he went crazy and said that everyone is cooperating with him, and I don’t listen to him even after a lot of love,” said the victim.

“Gurappa Naidu claimed that I would not change and asked me if I was born to a single father and was cruel to me. I started crying and ran home from the school premises in tears,” the survivor added.

“Seeing me in tears, my mother questioned me and I shared my trauma. She asked me not to go there to work. I feel threatened and afraid after the incident. It took me months to get back to normal. Previously, I remembered traumatic experiences. I thought that even though many teachers and staff are being exploited, no one comes forward to file a complaint,” she said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from the syndicated feed.)