Tamil Nadu: FIR against Special DGP over sexual assault allegations
The Crime Branch CID (CB-CID) of the Tamil Nadu Police on Sunday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against former Special Director General of Police Rajesh Das over allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him by a woman IPS officer. Das was removed from the post a few days ago after the woman officer lodged a complaint. Here are more details on this.
Case registered under these sections
The case has been registered under Section 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Sections 3 (prohibition of harassment of woman) and 4 (penalty for harassment of woman) of the TN Prevention of Women Harassment Act, a source told The Indian Express. Meanwhile, Das has reportedly been placed on compulsory wait.
Das allegedly misbehaved with woman officer in his car
Last month, the Tamil Nadu government had set up a six-member inquiry committee led by Additional Chief Secretary Jayashree Raghunandan to investigate the woman IPS officer's complaint. In her complaint, she claimed that Das had misbehaved with her in his car and also named other senior officers for allegedly witnessing the sequence of events or for colluding with the accused officer.
SP who intercepted complainant's vehicle to be probed
The investigating team will also probe the role of Chengalpattu SP D Kannan who had allegedly tried to intercept the complainant's vehicle on February 22 when she was on her way to Chennai to file a formal complaint against Das. He, however, has contended he had been instructed by Das to stop her and was not aware that they had "bad blood between them."
'IG rank officer to be probed for allegedly influencing victim'
"The probe will also look at the role of an IG rank officer for his alleged role in trying to influence the victim on behalf of the accused. The probe will look at the sequence of events and the seemingly inappropriate transfer orders against two junior lady officers for being close to the victim," an official was quoted as saying.
State Human Rights Commission takes suo motu cognizance
Separately, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has also taken suo motu cognizance of the matter and sought a detailed report from DGP JK Tripathy in two weeks. Earlier, in 2000, Das was ordered by the SHRC to pay a fine for allegedly assaulting police personnel. In 2004, he was suspended for allegedly misbehaving with his subordinates.
Das denies allegations, says complaint is 'politically motivated'
Das, on the other hand, has denied the allegations, claiming that the complaint is "politically motivated." "Don't you know that it was a false complaint, that it was political? Why don't you wait till the outcome of the inquiry? Don't you know that you are not supposed to write about this case?" he said when contacted by The Indian Express.
