The Congress party in Karnataka expelled State General Secretary Gurappa Naidu on Saturday following charges of sexual harassment surfacing against him.
The Disciplinary Committee Chairman of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) K. Rahman Khan issued an order to expel Gurappa Naidu from the party.
“In the backdrop of lodging of sexual harassment case against State General Secretary Gurappa Naidu, he has been expelled from the primary membership of the party for six years,” the order stated.
Karnataka police had slapped an FIR against the State Congress office bearer over alleged charges of sexually harassing a teacher at a school run by him in Bengaluru on Thursday. The complaint is registered with Chennammanakere Achukattu police station against Gurappa Naidu, the state Congress General Secretary and also the Chairman of the BGS Bloom School.
The police had registered a case under IPC Sections 354 (a) (sexual harassment), 354 (assault or criminal force against a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty), 506 (criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insults that provoke a breach of the peace) and 509 (acts, words, or gestures that insult a woman’s modesty). These incidents are said to have occurred between 2021 and 2023.
In her statement to the police, the survivor stated, “Accused Gurappa Naidu sexually exploited gullible women staffers at his school. He has been using them and also raping them. He is video-recording these acts and blackmailing them.”
A teacher told the police that she worked at the school run by the accused and more than 75 per cent of the staff are women and came from middle and poor classes. Many of their children also studied at the same school.
In her complaint, the survivor said, “The accused Gurappa Naidu is a womaniser who pesters women and won’t spare anyone. Everyone in the school fears him and he uses women as per his wishes.”
“The accused makes vulgar and nude videos of women and blackmails them. He threatens them that if they don’t do exactly how he says, their videos would be made viral. He also threatens women staffers if they dared to file a police complaint,” the survivor stated.
The survivor further mentioned, “Gurappa Naidu has exploited many women staffers belonging to the poor and weaker sections. They are not able to bear the trauma and are forced to live in fear. Though the wanted to file a complaint against him, considering his clout and fearing backlash from families, they decided not to file the police complaint.”
“I have worked in the school for three years. The accused used to call me into his chamber and repeatedly asked me when I was going to get ready. He used to stare at me causing mental trauma,” she stated.
“Gurappa Naidu’s behaviour was vulgar. He used dirty language and dragged me to his chamber. When I told him not to indulge in such acts with me, he got wild and stated that everyone is cooperating with him and I am not listening to him even after showering much love,” the survivor stated.
“Gurappa Naidu maintained that I won’t change and asked me whether I was born to a single father and abused me. I started crying and I rushed to my home in tears from the school premises,” the survivor added.
“After seeing me in tears, my mother questioned me and I shared the trauma. She asked me not to go to work there. I am feeling threatened and fearful after the incident. It took months together for me to come to normalcy. I used to get reminded of traumatic experiences. I was thinking that even as many teachers and staff are exploited, no one is coming forward to file the complaint,” she said.