The nurse, the married man, and the minister

The inclusion of the dissident BJP legislator M.P. Renukacharya into the B.S. Yediyurappa council of ministers despite the charges against him, has been roundly condemned by the media and civil society.

Now, the woman at the centre of the alleged “sexual harassment” case, nurse Jayalakshmi, has taken to the streets, questioning how the chief minister could induct such a man and demanding that he be dropped.

The facts of the case, so far, are:

# The lady herself released pictures of the married minister kissing her in 2007 claiming she was his victim.

# She said the minister was forcing her to marry him against her wishes, and filed a petition before the state women’s commission.

# A non-bailable warrant was issued against Renukacharya as he was absconding.

# In the middle of all this, the minister said he had at least 500 pictures of Jayalakshmi in compromising positions. Some of these pictures made their way to the media.

# Jayalakshmi who alleged the minister tried to kill her, is reported to have made two attempts to commit suicide.

# She says the minister owes a “huge amount of money“.

The power minister K.S. Eswarappa says Jayalakshmi should shut up and keep quiet because she herself is not above blame when she was going around with a married man.

Does the nurse have a case?

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Photograph: Nurse Jayalakshmi (centre) with members of women’s organisations staging a dharna at the Town Hall in Bangalore on Thursday demanding resignation of minister M.P. Renukacharya (Karnataka Photo News)

Also read: CHURUMURI POLL: Should ‘Nurse’ Renuka stay/ go?