VIJAYAWADA: The State government has decided to take legal action against Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan for his remarks against village and ward volunteers. The government termed the actor-politician’s remarks “defamatory, derogatory and venomous”.
Special Chief Secretary (Department of Gram/Ward volunteers and Village/Ward Secretariats) Ajay Jain issued GO no. 16 on Thursday, giving sanction to the Public Prosecutor to file a complaint against Pawan in a competent court of law for making ‘baseless allegations’ against the volunteers and the government. The orders were issued to prosecute under Section 199 (4) (b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
During his Vaarahi Yatra on July 9, the JSP chief alleged that volunteers were involved in the trafficking of women in the State. He claimed that volunteers were collecting information about girls and widows, and passed it on to anti-social elements. This, he said, was resulting in human trafficking. The JSP chief had alleged that the volunteers were targeting women who were facing financial difficulties and pushed them into trafficking. Pawan’s remarks attracted criticism from the ruling YSRC and volunteers.
The AP Women’s Commission had also served notices on the JSP chief and volunteers lodged complaints against him with the police. In the GO, Jain said Pawan made defamatory statements against the volunteer system and the government by stating that the volunteers were the sole reason for the missing of 29,000 women in Andhra Pradesh according to NCRB data.
The government explained that the volunteer system was implemented for the decentralisation of administration up to the village level for delivering government services to the poor people at their doorsteps in a most transparent manner without any corruption or middlemen.
The GO added while the system has earned laurels and is being replicated by other States, Pawan made defamatory statements causing substantial damage to the reputation of the volunteer system as well as to the State government. The remarks particularly triggered insecurity in the minds of the women in distress, the government said.