Raising a question mark over Chief Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on the alleged illegal surveillance of a young woman architect in the state, Gujarat Mahila Congress today sought to know as to why the entire state machinery was "misused".
"BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate always targets Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) for his silence on important issues. But why is "Saheb" silent on such a serious surveillance issue?," Gujarat Pradesh Mahila Congress president Sonal Patel asked.
"If the woman was being harassed, why was an FIR not registered against the accused and why was the person not sent to jail. Instead of providing security to the woman, an illegal surveillance was ordered on her. We want to know as to why the entire state machinery was misused," she told reporters here.
Terming the illegal surveillance of a woman as "sexual harassment", Patel said they would gherao the state Assembly during its next session.
Two investigative news portals, Cobrapost.Com and Gulail.Com had claimed on November 15 that Modi's close aide Amit Shah had ordered illegal surveillance of a woman at the behest of one "Saheb".
They had released the taped conversations between Shah and IPS officer G L Singhal to support their claim, but said that its authenticity could not be confirmed.
Civil society organisations and opposition Congress had raised a furore over the alleged snooping incident and demanded a CBI inquiry or investigation by a sitting apex court judge.
The Gujarat government has set up a two-member Commission comprising retired High Court Justice Sugnya Bhatt and former IAS officer K C Kapoor to investigate the entire alleged illegal surveillance of the woman. It has asked the inquiry panel to complete the probe within three months.
Congress has termed the Commission as "Save Modi Commission".
