Reacting sharply to unsubstantiated and allegedly false media reports appearing in a city-based weekly newspaper on July 20, 2014 and other publications, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has sent legal notices to these publications threatening legal action in the form of both civil and criminal legal action.
The July 20 report in The Sunday Guardian while making false allegations about her son had alleged that she and her husband were giving their son up for adoption to her brother Rahul Gandhi. Vadra has written: “To allege that a parent would willingly pass his/her child on to someone else as if he were an object devoid of emotion is morbid enough, but to ascribe to it the intention of perpetuating some sort of dynastic political aspiration is even more sickening. This pernicious falsehood is clearly aimed at causing deep offence to my family and is an unacceptable aspersion on my motherhood and on my character.”
She further states that the article is intended to defame and damage her minor son whom she feels duty bound to protect. World over there are effective laws to deal with such psychological attacks on young children. There is a need for India too, to make its child-protection laws more effective and more comprehensive.
Historically both she and her family had chosen to largely ignore false allegations made against them. This appears to be a departure from her earlier stance on attacks against her family. Priyanka’s most recent step appears to be a determined action to pursue legal remedy against false allegations and accusations being made about her family.