Snooping controversy: NCW seeks probe, BJP dubs it Congress mouthpiece

NEW DELHI: The National Commission of Women has sought a probe into the snooping controversy.

But the BJP has dubbed the statutory body "a Congress mouthpiece". The NCW had shot off a letter to home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday, the day the father of the woman who was spied upon by Gujarat's police officers had written to the commission and the Gujarat Commission of women appealing for her privacy.

This is a clear case of conflict of interest since the commission's chairperson Mamata Sharma is fighting elections in Rajasthan on a Congress ticket and four of its seven members are linked to the Congress, BJP leaders said.

"The NCW is working as a Congress mouthpiece….The entire thing is politically motivated," said BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman, who is also a former member of the NCW. On Wednesday, the commission also wrote to the chief secretary of Gujarat government, asking it to communicate the action taken to it within 48 hours.

"We have asked them to probe if there were violations of privacy, misuse of state/police machinery, flagrant violation of Indian Telegraph Act," NCW member Nirmala Sawant Prabhavalkar said. Shinde said his ministry might ask for a report from the Gujarat government.

"We have not received the NCW letter yet. I cannot speak on the matter till I get the complete information on this," he said on Wednesday. The NCW's terms of reference are restricted to addressing complaints of harassment made by women while in this case the woman concerned was seeking privacy, going by her father's letter, the BJP spokesperson said.