State Women’s Commission Chairperson Pramila Nesargi on Tuesday said she would go ahead with the inquiry into the Jayalakshmi case even if the latter withdrew her complaint against BJP legislator Renukacharya.
Ms Nesargi told Deccan Herald that in case Jayalakshmi withdrew her complaint, she would invoke the commission’s suo motu powers to probe the case. “As a chairperson of the commission, I enjoy that power,” she said.
Ms Nesargi termed as ‘baseless' Jayalakshmi’s charge that she would not be ‘fair’ in her judgement as she (Nesargi) was a BJP person. It was an “expression of a frustrated mind”, she added. “When I first visited her at hospital, or when she lodged the complaint with us and appeared before us, she had no problems with my BJP affiliation”.
“She even gave us a list of seven witnesses whom she wanted us to examine -- including her parents, brother and one Manoj, who she said was threatened by Mr Renukacharya. She had no grievance against me then,” said the chairperson.

‘No party bias’
“The commission does not support or oppose anyone on party lines. It supports the cause of women,” she said. The National Commission for Women cannot take up a case pending before a State Commission. “I’ve issued summons to all the witnesses to appear before us on June 4 and 5,” she added.
The commission is also examining Mr Renukacharya’s wife Suma’s complaint against Ms Jayalakshmi, she added.
Summons have also been issued to police authorities and the hospital which treated Jayalakshmi, to produce relevant documents with them.
“I’ve also issued summons to a Kannada tabloid and a newspaper that first published the case and the photographs of Jayalakshmi and Renukacharya, to produce the records. I will send them a reminder on May 25,” she added.