A 5-minute audio clip of a telephonic conversation purportedly between BJP MP and former minister Maneka Gandhi and Bengaluru businessman Ramalingam has gone viral on social media.  Ramalingam had ostensibly hit a stray dog with a cricket bat after the dog had bit his daughter. In the clip, Maneka Gandhi can allegedly be heard threatening Ramalingam to implicate him in a sexual harassment case if he attacks stray dogs or animals again.

According to the police, Ramalingam reportedly hit the dog after it bit his daughter two days ago. “This was opposed by his neighbour, Nitin and his friend Malati. This episode led to full blown arguments between residents of Crescent Road and Malati. She filed complaint against Ramalingam and Ramalingam too filed case against her. We have registered both complaints,” a police officer said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Sub-division) M.N. Anuchet too confirmed that the Highgrounds police had filed a Non-Cognizable Report (NCR) against Ramalingam as well as animal activist Malati and Nitin on January 2 itself.

“However, we have not received any formal complaint against the purported audio clip which is doing rounds and has not come to our notice. If anyone comes forward and file a complaint, we will take that case,” he said.

The former Union Minister, known for her pro-animal rights stance, starts the conversation by calling the businessman a ‘goonda’ and says that she has received several complaints about his behaviour. She tells Ramalingam that he is harassing Malati Shah and Nitin and that he must stop harassing them. She then threatens him that she would arrange for a sexual harassment complaint to be filed against him. According to the clip, Ramalingam then apologised and tried to acquaint her with the facts of the case. However, Maneka Gandhi does not listen and tells him that Ramalingam has been beating dogs with a cricket bat, to which he replies that he used the bat for self-protection and nothing happened to the dog. He tells her that the dog bit his daughter and chased his son, when Maneka Gandhi calls him a liar. When Ramalingam says that he is not lying and that he has proof of the dog biting his daughter, the animal-rights activist calls him a ‘liar’, a ‘scoundrel’ and a ‘drunk’. The former Women and Child Development Minister again threatens to implicate the businessman in a sexual harassment case.

Ramalingam implores her to look at the case from both sides, but the BJP MP threatens him with police action and jail time. He assures her that he is an animal-lover and that he is a vegetarian. But this fails to impress Maneka Gandhi, who again calls him a ‘goonda’ and tells him that he must be “quiet and gentle”. Ramalingam tries to tell Maneka Gandhi his side of the story but she cuts him off and calls him an “unemployed good for nothing”. She also goes on to say that Malati can go to Ramalingam’s area any time to feed the animals there, and adds that it wasn’t Ramalingam’s father’s area.

While the contents of the audio clip have not been verified, such blatant conceit and effrontery by a public individual and flagrant disregard for others’ viewpoints is, to say the least, shocking.

This is not the first time that Maneka Gandhi has made misandrist remarks. She landed herself in trouble in 2015 when she said that “all violence is male-generated” and again in 2017 when she said that she had never heard or read of any man committing suicide.