NCW asks Uttar Pradesh Police to take action against Bhim army chief over derogatory comments against women

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has asked Uttar Pradesh police to take action against Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad for allegedly making derogatory and defamatory statements against women.

In a letter to UP DGP H C Awasthy, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said the commission has taken cognizance of Azad's tweets "wherein it is seen that derogatory and defamatory statements have been made against women by him".

"The commission has taken note of the rise in cyber-harassment and use of derogatory statements in cyberspace against women amounts to a serious offence under the law," she said in the letter.

In view of the above, it is requested that action shall be taken against the culprit as per the relevant provisions of law to avoid recurrence of the crime in the future, she added.

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.