The Supreme Court on Friday confirmed and made absolute interim protection from arrest granted to national president of Indian Youth Congress B.V. Srinivas in connection with the sexual harassment case lodged by a former party member in Assam.

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai, Aravind Kumar and Prashant Kumar Mishra took note of the submission that Srinivas had cooperated with the investigation.

In that view of the matter, the bench ordered that anticipatory bail granted earlier is made absolute.

In May this year, the top court had directed the Congress leader to co-operate in the police investigation and also in the inquiry initiated by the National Commission for Women while granting him ad interim protection against arrest.

It had noted that there was a delay in lodging the complaint and before registration of FIR, the complainant did not make a whisper of allegation of sexual harassment in any of her tweets or media interviews against the petitioner.

Reportedly, the complainant, who was the chief of the Youth Congress in Assam till December 2022, was expelled from the Congress after she brought harassment allegations against Srinivas in May this year.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)