Sexual harassment charge filed against Tripura MLA

Agartala, May 20 (IANS) Tripura Police have launched a probe after a tribal girl filed a complaint of sexual harassment against a legislator belonging to the ruling alliance partner IPFT, an official said on Monday.

"We have launched an inquiry after a tribal girl filed an FIR at the East Agartala Women Police Station on Sunday night," Deputy Superintendent of Police (Crime) Koel Debbarma told IANS here.

A young tribal girl, resident of Mandwai in western Tripura, has lodged the sexual harassment complaint against Dhananjoy Tripura, 31, a member of the Tripura assembly representing the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), which is a junior alliance partner of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Speaking to reporters, the girl alleged that she was raped repeatedly over the last two years by Tripura, who committed to marry her, but the legislator was now denying having married her.

The MLA, who was elected from the Raima Valley assembly constituency in northern Tripura, strongly denied the charges, telling mediapersons that he would seek legal recourse if the police took any action against him.

The issue has rocked state politics since the allegations surfaced on Sunday.