On Monday, as the controversy over Sanjay Raut's comments on actor Kangana Ranaut raged, Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi engaged in a short tweet war with Rekha Sharma, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women.
"I urge NCW Chairperson @sharmarekha ji to intervene and take suo moto action to ensure the culprit in the below mentioned sexual harassment case is not spared from being punished if found guilty. The complainant alleges she is being forced to settle the matter," Chaturvedi tweeted sharing a screengrab of an ANI update which spoke about a sexual harassment case against an Uttarakhand BJP MLA.
This sparked off a tweet war of sorts with Sharma urging the Rajya Sabha MP to help people in Maharashtra who who were "struggling to get an FIR done".
Chaturvedi responded stating that as a member of the Rajya Sabha it was her responsibility to make Sharma aware and to expect the NCW chief to "adhere to her responsibilities" and "not be driven by setting agenda".
"The lady is being pressurised to ‘settle the matter’ despite an FIR, how does it not come under your purview to ensure that. Stop this whataboutery," she responded, prompting yet another reply from Sharma.
"Don't worry the lady can always come to me directly and I too am taking care of it. My request is you being from Maharashtra can be helpful to many women who are going from pillar to post as the police is not listening.Will forward u few. 1 against @rautsanjay61 and not Kangana (sic)," Sharma responded.
But Chaturvedi appears to have had the last word, as she tweeted a reminder that Sharma had tweeted a screengrab that is believed to be fake.
"Is suo moto action arbitrary depending on which side of the political bias?Response still awaited to a letter written to you by Yuvati Sena regarding a case of an elderly woman being harassed by BJYM leader in Chennai.BTW hope you took down the fake screenshot of ANI you tweeted?" she retorted.
To give a bit of context, Kangana's comparison of Mumbai to Pakistan occupied Kashmir had prompted Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut to call her a "h*******r ladki". Both comments have seen backlash since, with Raut claiming on Monday that he had not meant it in an offensive manner.
Following Kangana's original comment, MLA Pratap Sarnaik had called for her arrest. "MP Sanjay Raut cautioned Kangana in a very mild way. If she comes here then our brave women will not leave without slapping her. I will demand Kangana to be booked for sedition for comparing Mumbai, the city which creates industrialists and film stars, to PoK," he wrote in Marathi.
At the same time, the National Commission for Women (NCW) had taken suo motu cognisance of the situation and Sarnaik's comments. Chairperson Rekha Sharma had also sought his immediate arrest by the Mumbai Police, sharing a chat screenshot that mentions how Kangana had no right to stay in the city. On Saturday, Sarnaik had taken to Twitter claiming that Rekha Sharma was sharing a fake screenshot in a bid to "spread malicious lies and incite communal disharmony on the behest of BJP".
