New Delhi: The National Commission for Women has taken cognisance of derogatory comments against women allegedly posted by Bhim Army Chief Chandra Shekar Azad through his Twitter account.
NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma wrote a letter to the Director-General of Police, Uttar Pradesh to take action and investigate the matter thoroughly.
In the letter, she asked the police to apprise the commission of the action taken at the earliest.
"The commission strongly condemns the harassment of women on social media and reiterates its stand that every woman is entitled to safe cyberspace where she can express her views without being harassed by such demeaning and sexist slurs," the chairperson said.
"The commission has taken note of the rise in cyber-harassment and use of derogatory statements in cyberspace against women which amounts to serious offence under law," the statement added.
Earlier yesterday, Sharma quoted a tweet with attached screenshots of the alleged derogatory comments posted by Azad.
"I will take care of this man who is disgracing the name of the great hero," she said.
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Sharma's above statement was in response to the tweet she had quoted, which has gone viral. Screenshots of a number of old tweets abusing women were attached with the tweet.
Further, the commission has been receiving several tweets from women who were allegedly targeted by the political leader, and is in constant touch with the Superintendent of Police, Saharanpur to ensure quick action is taken in the matter.
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स्पष्ट कर दूं कि यह ट्विटर एकाउंट फरवरी 2018 में बना है और मैं सितंबर 2018 में जेल से रिहा हुआ। किसी कार्यकर्ता ने मुझे यह एकाउंट दिया।
— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) June 18, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
बाबा साहेब का सिपाही हूँ और बहन बेटियों का सम्मान सर्वोपरि है। ट्वीट बहुत ही गलत हैं। मैं एकाउंट में सुधार कर रहा हूँ। जय भीम, जय भारत। 2/2
">स्पष्ट कर दूं कि यह ट्विटर एकाउंट फरवरी 2018 में बना है और मैं सितंबर 2018 में जेल से रिहा हुआ। किसी कार्यकर्ता ने मुझे यह एकाउंट दिया।
— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) June 18, 2020
बाबा साहेब का सिपाही हूँ और बहन बेटियों का सम्मान सर्वोपरि है। ट्वीट बहुत ही गलत हैं। मैं एकाउंट में सुधार कर रहा हूँ। जय भीम, जय भारत। 2/2स्पष्ट कर दूं कि यह ट्विटर एकाउंट फरवरी 2018 में बना है और मैं सितंबर 2018 में जेल से रिहा हुआ। किसी कार्यकर्ता ने मुझे यह एकाउंट दिया।
— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) June 18, 2020
बाबा साहेब का सिपाही हूँ और बहन बेटियों का सम्मान सर्वोपरि है। ट्वीट बहुत ही गलत हैं। मैं एकाउंट में सुधार कर रहा हूँ। जय भीम, जय भारत। 2/2
Meanwhile, many netizens have also demanded Twitter India to remove Bhim Army Chief Azad from the microblogging site after few of his alleged sexist tweets went viral.
However, Azad has clarified that the tweets were not been sent by him as he was in jail during the period. "Some tweets of hate speech on women are going viral from my account. I want to explain that I was in jail from 08/06/2017 to 14/09/2018 in the case of Saharanpur violence. These tweets belong to this period, which I do not know about. I respect women very much," he said in a tweet.
"Let me clarify that this Twitter account was created in February 2018 and I was released from jail in September 2018. Some worker gave me this account. I am a soldier of Babasaheb and respect for sister, daughters is paramount. The tweets are very wrong. I am improving the account. Jai Bhima, Jai Bharat," he said in another tweet.
