Indian-origin Conservative peer and multi-millionaire businessman Lord Ranger (Raminder Singh Ranger) has had to publicly apologise to journalist and women’s rights activist Poonam Joshi after the House of Lords investigation found that he had harassed and bullied her.
House of Lords standard commissioner Akbar Khan, in his report – The conduct of Lord Ranger– concluded that Lord Ranger breached the Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Lords according to which members are required to treat those with whom they come into contact in the course of their parliamentary duties and activities with respect and courtesy.
This be noted that Joshi, in her complaint submitted to the Standards Commission on November 14, 2022, had alleged that in response to concerns she had raised about the Hindu Forum for Britain, an organisation which Lord Ranger had co-founded, he had shouted at her at a Diwali event he hosted in the House of Lords on October 21, 2022; threatened her with legal action; and issued a series of derogatory tweets about her, which sometimes tagged her employer, the High Commission of India, and members of her family. She further alleged that he had written to the Indian Journalists Association (IJA) to ostracise her.
Meanwhile, in his response submitted to the Commission on January 11th, Lord Ranger had alleged, “The complainant has made these factitious complaints to attack me as a consequence of my support to the Hindu Forum of Britain. As the complainant has a history of longstanding acrimony against the Hindu Forum of Britain.”
According to the Standard Commissioner’s report, which is now public, when during his interview Lord Ranger was questioned “about the necessity of using certain language towards Ms Joshi such as ‘People tell me you are toxic’ and ‘Who is asking you? Who has given you the authority to insult others who do not appease you? You are showing your poor upbringing by bullying’, Lord Ranger replied, ‘This is the common Asian practice; that, you know, you always say the family has instilled the right values in you, because the values are very important. So, if you start showing no respect to someone for his age, experience, contribution, social status, you just start insulting somebody, then we in Asian culture consider that to be a poor upbringing’.”
Further, the report mentions, when asked “why he asked the IJA to ‘show the spine and cut out cancer’ and if he was comparing Ms Joshi to cancer, he replied, ‘Well, you are just picking my words. You know, I think she is a cancer because she has not spread anything good anywhere. You can make her a heroine and bring me down. It’s up to your judgment’ …”
After the investigation, the Commissioner concluded that “there was an imbalance of power between Lord Ranger and Ms Joshi by reason of Lord Ranger’s authority, his public position as a member of the House of Lords, his wealth and his social standing, and his connections and associations with other senior political figures. He was acutely aware of this imbalance of power and abused it by persistently undermining, humiliating and denigrating Ms Joshi.” He also concluded that Lord Ranger’s conduct did constitute harassment against Joshi within the definition in the Code of Conduct, albeit not harassment related to the protected characteristic of sex.
He said, “Both Lord Ranger and Ms Joshi sought to undermine one another by issuing inflammatory tweets and sought to involve their family members in their dispute. Ms Joshi claimed that her social media activity was intended to hold Lord Ranger “to account” but there were occasions where it appeared that her tweets were intended to insult or ridicule him. He also recommended that Lord Ranger make a public apology to Joshi regarding his conduct on Twitter and undertake bespoke training and behaviour change coaching provided by an approved external supplier.
Both Lord Ranger and Joshi, have since, apologised to each other.
While Lord Ranger had not responded to the request for comment till the filing of this report, Joshi, told The Indian Express, “In mid-December 2022, the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian reported on Lord Ranger’s conduct and the presence at the Diwali event of representatives of Nithyananda. A day later, he sued me for defamation, demanding damages of £160,000 plus. On May 31, 2023, the defamation case amicably resolved on confidential terms. On June 13, the House of Lords Standards Commissioner released his Report on Lord Ranger.
“While I could have also conducted myself better in the circumstances, I think it’s important to reiterate – as the House of Lords Commissioner has clearly established – there was an imbalance of power between myself and Lord Ranger. And, as the report clearly states, he exploited that imbalance of power to attack me. Many people told me to withdraw the complaint and asked me to just withdraw into the shadows but I refused to do it. So, I feel vindicated at the Commissioner’s findings,” said Joshi.
Many Punjabis on King’s first birthday honours list
More than 1,000 people, including many Punjabis, have been awarded for their outstanding contributions across all sectors and parts of the UK, in King Charles’ first Birthday Honours List. The oldest recipient, Joan Willett is 106 years old and receives a BEM for her charitable fundraising for the British Heart Foundation. The youngest recipient is Junior Jay Frood who is 18 years old and receives a BEM for services to vulnerable children. As many as 586 women are recognised in the List, representing 50% of the total and 11% of the successful candidates come from an ethnic minority background.
Those receiving Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) include: Dr Parvinder Kaur Aley, Director of Global Operations, Oxford Vaccine Group, University of Oxford, for services to vaccination during Covid-19; Varinder Hayer, District Crown Prosecutor, CPS, London for services to law and order; Derby-based Dr Amarjit Raju, chief executive, Disability Direct, for services to people with disabilities, carers and mental health.
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) has been awarded to: Bawa Singh Dhallu, Councillor Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, for political and voluntary service; Kapaljit Singh Jhuti, Head of services, Transport and Passenger Logistics Heathrow airport for services to the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; Sardarni Navleen Kaur, founder Sahara Sisterhood, for services to women and inter-faith relations; Ritu Khurana, DJ and broadcaster, for services to music and broadcasting; Anita Parmar, Head, Lessons for Auschwitz Project, Holocaust Educational Trust, for services to holocaust education and remembrance; London-based Narinder Singh Sagoo, gets his MBE for services to charity and Dr Inderjit Singh for voluntary and charitable services to the community in Scotland.
British Empire Medal (BEM) has been awarded to Balbir Dhillon and Kuldeep Singh Dhillon for services to community in Cheshire.
(The writer is a freelance journalist based in London contributing content to digital, print, radio and TV platforms)
Lord Ranger (left): Poonam Joshi (right)
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