Gurgaon: An FIR was registered on Wednesday against the husband of MCG Ward 33 councillor Sarika Bhardwaj over allegations of criminal intimidation and use of casteist slurs against sanitation workers. The alleged abuse by Prashant Bhardwaj took place on Monday, and sanitation staff launched a strike on Tuesday in protest. According to the FIR at Sector-9A police station, the MCG employees were engaged in cleaning when the councillor’s husband arrived and brought up changing a sewer line at Lakshman Vihar-2. A dispute arose, with the staff stating that this responsibility fell on the contractor. Bhardwaj, however, insisted that the MCG sanitation workers execute it.
The FIR alleged that Bhardwaj then used derogatory language and caste-based slurs. It added that he warned the workers they would be killed or seriously harmed, and said he would be forced to pick up a stick if they did not comply with his directions. The complainant, Dharmender Jhingala, also alleged that Bhardwaj threatened to circulate videos on social media to exert pressure on the staff and create fear. The workers reported the incident to the Municipal Employees Union, which took it to MCG. A written complaint was subsequently submitted to the police.Sanitation staff staged a sit-in at the old MCG office, demanding Bhardwaj’s arrest. Basant Kumar, chief of the union, said what had taken place was a serious criminal offence. “After sustained protests, the FIR has now been registered. We have called a meeting of the union on Thursday and will decide whether to call off the strike,” he said. MCG additional commissioner Ravinder Yadav expressed hope that the agitation would end following registration of the FIR. Bhardwaj has denied the allegations. He claimed that on Feb 2, only three of the eight sanitation workers deployed had reported for duty, and so he went to meet the supervisor. “The supervisor told me that they were working somewhere else and offered me a bribe of Rs 1 lakh to keep the arrangement running,” the councillor’s husband said, adding. “I did not use any caste-based words. I have a video recording to prove this.” The FIR has invoked charges under sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, along with sections 121(1) (criminal intimidation), 3(5) (common intention) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation involving threats of serious harm) of BNS.
