Indian-origin British Woman Alleges Sexual Assault by UK Lord

An Indian-origin British woman has waived her anonymity to speak about alleged sexual harassment by a UK Lord.

Jasvinder Sanghera, founder of Karma Nirvana, a national award-winning charity that supports both men and women affected by honor-based abuse and forced marriages, spoke about her experience with a UK Lord, stating that she was offered “a title” in return for sleeping with a member of Britain’s unelected upper chamber.

Lord Lester, who Sanghera accused of sexual harassment, has been suspended until 2022, pending parliament investigation.

According to statements, in November 2017, the Commissioner received a complaint alleging that “Lord Lester of Herne Hill had sexually harassed the complainant, had offered her a corrupt inducement to have sexual relations with her and had warned her of unspecified consequences if she did not accept his offer. These allegations were connected to Lord Lester’s conduct of his parliamentary duties.”

Lester, 82, has denied all allegations but admitted telling another Member of the House that the complainant had been responsible for him being suspended by his political party since February 2018 which was a breach of the confidentiality requirements of the process, the statement noted.

Sanghera told the parliament investigation committee about what happened twelve years ago when she was working with Lester on draft legislation. She told the committee that she missed her train and Lord Lester offered her to stay in his place where he stays with his wife. “I initially said no as I did not wish to impose on his hospitality, but he insisted and said he would call his wife,” she said. Later, on the way to Lester’s place, “he kept repeatedly missing the gearstick with his hand and instead very firmly placed his hand on my right thigh. The first time it happened I thought it must’ve been an accident, but when it continued I realized it was not. I removed his hand and asked him to stop. He just smiled. I felt incredibly uncomfortable knowing that I was on the way to staying at his house. He continued to grope my thigh for the length of the journey, despite my protests.”

In another incident, Lester told Sanghera, “If you sleep with me I will make you a Baroness within a year.” He even spelled it out putting my surname in and asked me how that sounded. I responded immediately without hesitation by saying that if I were ever to become a member of the House of Lords, it had to be purely on merit.”

“He said that if I did not, he would see to it that I never had a seat in the House of Lords and warned me that there would be other repercussions for me, which he did not specify. He said that if I was a “good girl” and did what he was asking, I would be in the House of Lords and could visit his house abroad with him. He made a number of further inappropriate sexual comments to me such as that he could see me becoming a demanding mistress. I was distressed and shocked by his behavior,” Sanghera told the investigation committee.

Several years later, Lester contacted by Sanghera through an email where he insisted on his proposal. Sanghera said, “It felt worse because of how he had treated me in the past which was harassment tantamount to bullying.”

Sanghera’s lawyer, David Hooper, told BBC Radio 4, that it has been very difficult for her to speak up but she did waive off her anonymity and “other cases have been drawn to her attention and she feels now women will get a fair hearing.”

“It is very difficult to take on powerful people like Lord Lester and it was very unclear at that time whether or not the code of conduct extended to sexual harassment,” Hooper was quoted as saying in the show.