News Analysis India

Tag: Sexual Harassment

  • Jharkhand: IAS officer Sayyed Riyaz Ahmed suspended over sexual harassment of IIT student

    Express News Service

    RANCHI:  IAS officer Sayyed Riyaz Ahmed, who was posted as sub-divisional magistrate in Khunti and arrested earlier this week for allegedly sexually harassing an IIT student, has been suspended.

    As per the FIR lodged by the victim at Mahila Police Station in Khunti on July 4, the bureaucrat harassed her sexually after making her drunk early in the morning on July 2.

    A statement from the chief minister’s office said, “Chief Minister Hemant Soren has directed to suspend Syed Riyaz Ahmed, working as SDM in Khunti. The SDM was accused of sexual harassment.” 

    Ahmed is facing charges under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), police said.

    A court on July 5 remanded the officer to judicial custody for 14 days.

    According to the police, the alleged incident happened during a party on Friday night, which continued till early morning on Saturday, and when very few people were left at the venue in the wee hours.

    The complainant is said to be a student who had come to Khunti for a month to pursue her internship.

    When the SDM found her alone at the party, he allegedly sexually harassed her there, the victim told the police in a statement.

    The police, prima facie, found the allegation to be true after Ahmed and some guests who attended the party were questioned.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Bridget Moynahan refuses to comment on ‘Sex and the City’ co-star Chris Noth sexual assault allegations

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: After several women came forward with sexual assault allegations against Chris Noth, his former ‘Sex and the City’ co-star Bridget Moynahan responded to the claims, saying she doesn’t “know anything about” the misconduct allegations.

    As per Fox News, the actor told Elle magazine that she doesn’t know anything about the allegations made against Noth by multiple women.

    “It would be inappropriate for me to comment on things I don’t have any knowledge of,” she said.

    Nearly four days earlier The Hollywood Reporter published the accounts of two women, who used pseudonyms while opening up about the alleged sexual assaults they say took place in 2004 and 2015, respectively.

    According to the outlet, the two women separately reached out to them and do not know each other.

    Actor Zoe Lister-Jones also accused Noth of being “consistently sexually inappropriate with a fellow female promoter” and alleged he was “drunk on set” when they guest-starred on ‘Law & Order. The actor shared her statement on her Instagram account a few days back.

    Noth has denied all the allegations levelled against him. He said in a statement, “The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago–no always means no–that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out.”

    “I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women,” he added.

    Last Friday, a third woman came forward with sexual assault allegations against Noth. In a Daily Beast report, a woman who wished to remain anonymous but used the pseudonym, Ava, told the outlet that when she was 18, Noth had sexually assaulted her while she was working at a New York City restaurant in 2010.

    Noth also denied the third woman’s account in a statement. “The story is a complete fabrication, and the alleged accounts detailed throughout read like a piece of bad fiction,” a rep for Noth said.

    “As Chris stated yesterday, he has and would never cross that line,” the rep added.

    As per People magazine, Noth has since been dropped from the A3 Artists Agency. He has also been dropped from the CBS drama ‘The Equalizer’. 

  • UP official held for sexually harassing female colleague at workplace

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  In a glaring example of sexual harassment at workplace, an under-secretary-level officer at Bapu Bhavan in Lucknow has been arrested for sexually harassing a female colleague.

    Accused Ichharam Yadav is posted at the minority welfare department as a section in-charge.

    The victim, who shot the video of the officer when he was harassing her, alleged Yadav had been doing so since 2018. She said the official had threatened to fire her from her contractual job.

    The female worker submitted a complaint at Hussainganj Police Station following which an FIR was lodged against Yadav under various sections of the IPC on October 29.

    In the video made by the victim, Yadav can be seen forcing himself on her as she is trying to save herself by pushing him away.

    The married woman, aged 30, presented multiple videos of such incidents as evidence to the police.

    She alleged the police didn’t initially arrest Yadav as he was well-connected. Frustrated at this, she put out the video that went viral.

    According to ADCP (Central) Khyati Garg, a case was registered in the matter and an investigation was in progress.

    “After recording the statements and examining the evidence, action will be taken,” she said.

  • NCW writes to IAF chief over woman officer being subjected to two-finger test

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The NCW has raised strong objections to a woman Air Force officer allegedly being subjected to the “banned and intrusive two-finger test” by Indian Air Force doctors, and asked the air chief marshal to take necessary steps.

    The 28-year-old woman officer, who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a colleague, claimed that she was made to “relive the trauma”.

    “The National Commission for Women is utterly disappointed and strongly condemns the action of Indian Air Force doctors conducting the banned two-finger test on the victim, thereby violating the Supreme Court’s decision and also violating the right to privacy and dignity of the victim,” the commission said reacting to a media report.

    NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to the air chief marshal of the Indian Air Force to take necessary steps and impart the necessary knowledge to IAF doctors about the prevailing guidelines laid down by the government and the Indian Council of Medical Research in 2014 terming the two-finger test unscientific.

    A flight lieutenant was arrested last week on the charge of sexually assaulting the woman officer.

    The woman officer had lodged a complaint with police after Air Force authorities reportedly failed to take action against the accused.

  • Sexual harassment: HC issues ‘working protocol’ for cases under POSH Act

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has issued a set of guidelines for cases related to sexual harassment of women at the workplace and stipulated that such matters will only be heard in-camera or in the judge’s chambers and no media reporting on judgements will be allowed without prior approval.

    The guidelines, the first such norms formulated by the HC, related to conducting hearings, passing and uploading of orders, reportage on cases of sexual harassment of women at the workplace.

    In a detailed order passed on Friday, a bench of Justice Gautam Patel said that henceforth, all proceedings under the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act (POSH Act), 2013, will only be heard in-camera or in the judge’s chambers.

    Orders in such cases will not be uploaded on a court’s website, and the press will not report on a judgement passed under the Act without the court’s permission, the HC said.

    Justice Patel said there did not exist any “established guidelines” so far for such matters and therefore, issued a “working protocol” for all future cases.

    As per the order, breach of the guidelines or publishing the parties’ names or, revealing their identities, even if such information already exists in public domain, will amount to contempt of court.

    “Both sides and all parties and advocates, as also witnesses, are forbidden from disclosing the contents of any order, judgment or filing to the media or publishing any such material in any mode or fashion by any means, including social media, without specific leave of the court,” the order reads.

    The court said it was imperative that the identities of the parties involved in cases under the POSH Act was protected.

    “It is imperative, therefore, to protect the identities of the parties from disclosure, even accidental disclosure, in these proceedings. This is in the interest of both sides. There appear to be no established guidelines so far in such matters,” the HC said.

    “This order, setting out a working protocol for future orders, hearings and case file management, is a first endeavour in that direction,” it said.

    The guidelines further mandate that all records of such cases will be maintained in sealed envelopes and will not be issued to any person without permission of the court.

  • Bob Dylan accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old in 1965, Nobel laureate dismisses it as ‘untrue’

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has been sued by a woman who claims he sexually abused her in 1965 when she was 12, an allegation the Nobel Prize winner has called “untrue.”

    The lawsuit filed last week on behalf of JC, now a 68-year-old woman living in Greenwich, Connecticut, alleges that Dylan, then 23 or 24-year-old, exploited his status as a musician to provide (the plaintiff) “with alcohol and drugs and sexually abuse her multiple times.”

    A spokesperson for Dylan, now 80, said the “the 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended.”

    According to Deadline, in the papers filed at the New York Supreme Court under the state’s Child Victims Act, JC said the abuse took place at Dylan’s apartment in New York’s Chelsea Hotel for over a six-week period from April-May 1965.

    As per the complaint, JC claims that Dylan established a “connection” with her to “lower her inhibitions with the object of sexually abusing her, which he did, coupled with the provision of drugs, alcohol and threats of physical violence, leaving her emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day”.

    The lawsuit cites causes including assault, battery false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and seeks compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages.

    Dylan, whose real name is Robert Allen Zimmerman, was already a popular name in the New York music scene during 1960s, performing and writing songs that gave voice to the anti-war and Civil Rights movements.

    Since then he has been honoured with multiple Grammys, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Nobel Prize for Literature.

  • Mumbai: Film production company’s CEO, country head booked for sexually harassing woman

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Police have registered a case against the CEO of a film production company in Mumbai for allegedly sexually harassing a 28-year-old woman, an official said on Friday.

    Along with Vibhu Agarwal, the CEO of Ullu Digital Pvt Ltd, police have booked the company’s India head, who is a woman, in connection with the incident that had occurred in June this year, he said.

    “The victim, a resident of Versova, approached the Amboli police station in Andheri west two days back and lodged a complaint against Agarwal and the company’s country head,” the police official said.

    In her complaint, the woman claimed that the accused had sexually harassed her at the storeroom of the company’s office located in Lotus Business Park in Andheri west on June 18, he said.

    “As per the complaint, the accused asked the woman to remove her clothes and threatened to defame her family members if she did not follow their instructions,” he added.

    Based on her complaint, the police registered the case against the two accused under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force against a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty), 354 (B) (assault or use of criminal force to any woman or abetting such act with the intention of disrobing or compelling her to be naked), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (common intention), the official said, adding that investigation is being carried out.

  • Absconding shelter home director, warden, 2 others nabbed in Madhya Pradesh in sexual assault on minors case

    By PTI
    RANCHI: The absconding shelter home director, warden and two others facing charges of sexual assault on minors were nabbed in Madhya Pradesh and brought to Jamshedpur on transit remand, a top police official said on Wednesday.

    However, two minor girls out of 40 inmates of the Mother Teresa Welfare Trust (MTWT) who went missing in the course of shifting of children to another shelter home on Friday could not be traced so far.

    “On a tip off to police, four accused of the case were arrested from Mada in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh and brought to Jamshedpur on transit remand. All the arrested accused would be produced before East Singhbhum Court, Jamshedpur,” Subhash Chandra Jat, City Superintendent of Police, Jamshedpur told PTI over phone.

    Jat said those arrested are – director of the shelter home Harpal Singh, 46, his wife Pushpa Rani Tirkey, 45, warden Geeta Kaur, 45 and Aditya Singh, 20 all residents of Shamsher Tower, Khadangajhar under East Singhbhum district.

    Tirkey, wife of Director, MTWT, was also chairperson of the East Singhbhum district child welfare committee (CWC).

    Mother Teresa Welfare Trust was being run for the last 10 years at Kharangajhar in Jamshedpur, officials said.

    A first information report (FIR) was lodged against all the arrested acused and one Tony David with the Telco Police Station, Jamshedpur on June 6 on the complaints of two of the minor girls of MTWT who had accused sexual assault and torture by the director and others for about four years.

    The FIR was lodged under various sections of the POSCO Act and all the accused were on the run after the FIR, the City SP said.

    The arrests were made by a police team, constituted by Senior Superintendent of Police, Jamshedpur, Dr Tamil Vanan under the leadership of City SP Jat.

    Jat said investigations are on in the case from all angles including land and building.

    An 11-member probe team, constituted by Deputy Commissioner, Jamshedpur, Suraj Kumar is also probing the matter.

    Asked about the two minor girls who went missing last week in the course of transfer of children to another shelter home, the SP said all efforts are on to trace the girls.

    The girls had gone missing on late Friday evening when 40 children were being moved to Bal Kalyan Aashram, Gobarghausi in Jamshedpur after complaints of sexual assault and torture over a four-year period, by two other minor tribal girls from the shelter home at MTWT.

    The original complaint of sexual assault and harrasment had also been made by two tribal girls from the home after they were rounded up by the Jharkhand police on reports that they had gone missing from the now infamous shelter.

    The MTWT is run by a local NGO, which has no connections with the Sisters of Charity, the organisation founded by St Teresa, who was known as Mother Teresa, before canonisation.

    The District Social Welfare Officer, Satya Thakur had on Thursday said 40 children in the government registered MTWT, including 24 girls and 16 boys, all of whom are below 18 years barring a girl and a boy each of 20 years, will be shifted to Bal Kalyan home.

    A Delhi Court had last year convicted 19 persons, including main accused Brajesh Thakur, in connection with sexual and physical assault of girls at a shelter home in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district.

  • Hospital compounder booked for sexually assaulting unconscious patient in UP

    By PTI
    MATHURA: A compounder has been booked for sexually abusing a patient admitted at the hospital where he worked, police said on Wednesday, adding the accused has absconded.

    The incident took place on Tuesday night at Mahavir Hospital and a case was registered at Kotwali police station on the complaint received from the woman’s father against compounder Ram Gujar, they said.

    The woman was sent for medical examination and three teams were formed to nab Gujar, Deputy Superintendent of Police Varun Kumar said.

    She was admitted at the hospital on Tuesday after she complained of stomachache.

    The victim was unconscious due to medication when Gujar touched her inappropriately, according to the FIR.

    The chief physician at the hospital was being interrogated and the CCTV footage was being scanned through, police said.

  • Charlie Hanson fired from Netflix’s ‘After Life’, suspended by BAFTA amid sexual misconduct allegations

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: British TV producer and director Charlie Hanson has been removed from Netflix’s Ricky Gervais comedy ‘After Life’ and has also been suspended by BAFTA amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

    According to Deadline, both Netflix and BAFTA were sent an anonymous email this week containing allegations about Hanson. A news outlet reported on Saturday that he is the subject of complaints from 11 women, who have detailed accusations dating from 2008 to 2015. Hanson has strenuously denied his wrongdoings.

    Netflix confirmed that Hanson is no longer a producer on ‘After Life’. A spokeswoman from the company said, “On Monday, we received an anonymous email containing historical allegations about a producer on one of our titles. Whilst the allegations are unrelated to his time on the show, we immediately removed him from the production and referred the matter to the police.”

    In a statement, Gervais added, “I am shocked and appalled to learn of the historical allegations made by a number of women against Charlie Hanson. The decision was made to immediately remove him from production and I am confident the matter is being handled thoroughly.”

    BAFTA also confirmed that it had suspended Hanson’s membership. A spokeswoman from the organisation said, “We have been presented with a number of very serious detailed allegations about an individual and while we are not their employer we immediately took the decision to suspend their membership.”

    The spokesperson further talked about the action taken by them and added, “BAFTA is an arts charity and does not have the power to investigate historic claims of abuse therefore we have referred the matter to the police. The behaviour that these accounts allege is abhorrent, in complete opposition to BAFTA values and has no place in our industry.”

    In a statement via his attorney, Hanson told Deadline, “I have been made aware of allegations made against me concerning improper conduct towards women dating back many years. Based on the summaries that have been provided to me, I understand that many of these accusations are made anonymously and are demonstrably false.

    Denying all the alleged wrongdoings, he continued, “I have not had one complaint in decades of work in the media industry. I categorically reject any wrongdoing on my part, and strongly refute the allegations that have been levelled at me. I have worked with and supported hundreds of men and women during my working life and will do what is necessary to protect and/or restore my reputation. I will also cooperate with any formal inquiries. The matter is now in the hands of my solicitors.”

    A spokesman for Hanson’s agency, United Agents, said, “We were shocked to learn of the historic allegations. Whilst this matter is investigated, we have suspended our representation of him.” His profile has been removed from United Agents’ website.

    Hanson is a BAFTA-winning veteran of the UK comedy scene and has worked as a producer on many high-profile shows, including ‘Birds Of A Feather’, ‘Not Going Outv, and ‘Reggie Perrin’.

    He was a frequent collaborator with Gervais, having worked with ‘The Office’ creator on ‘After Life’, ‘Extras’, ‘Derek’, and features ‘David Brent: Life on the Road’ and ‘Cemetery Junction’.