News Analysis India

Tag: Sexual Harassment

  • Bihar: Ward boy arrested over alleged sexual harassment of woman taking care of COVID-positive family

    By ANI
    BHAGALPUR: A ward boy of a private hospital in Bihar’s Bhagalpur was arrested after a woman alleged that he had sexually harassed her while she was taking care of her Covid-positive husband and mother.

    As per a press release, an FIR was filed on Tuesday at the Patrakar Nagar Police Station after the incident was also brought to light on social media.

    The arrested hospital staff, Jyoti Kumar, was arrested later in the day after the FIR was filed.

    In a similar incident earlier last week, the Indore police on Friday arrested two ward boys of the Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital on May for allegedly molesting a COVID-19 patient.

  • MJ Akbar plea against acquittal of Priya Ramani: HC says will call for trial court records

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it will call for the trial court records in connection with the defamation case filed by former Union minister M J Akbar’s against journalist Priya Ramani who had accused him of sexual harassment.

    The trial court had acquitted Ramani by dismissing Akbar’s defamation complaint.

    Justice Mukta Gupta said she will call for the trial court records and listed Akbar’s appeal against Ramani’s acquittal for hearing on August 11.

    During the brief hearing, the Akbar’s lawyer said the trial court judgement was “perverse”.

    Akbar has challenged the trial court’s February 17 order acquitting Ramani in the case on grounds that a woman has the right to put grievances before any platform of her choice even after decades.

    The trial court had dismissed the complaint filed by Akbar, saying no charges were proved against Ramani.

    It had said it was of the considered view that the case of Akbar regarding commission of offence punishable under Section 500 (punishment for the offence of defamation) IPC against Ramani is not proved and she is acquitted for the same.

    The trial court had said it was shameful that crimes against women are taking place in a country where mega epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana were written about respecting them.

    The glass ceiling will not prevent Indian women as a roadblock in advancement in society of equal opportunities, it had said.

    Ramani had made allegations of sexual misconduct against Akbar in the wake of the #MeToo movement in 2018.

    Akbar had filed the complaint against Ramani on October 15, 2018 for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of sexual misconduct decades ago.

    He resigned as a Union minister on October 17, 2018.

  • ‘Doctor Who’ star Noel Clarke accused of sexual misconduct

    By PTI
    LONDON: Actor-writer-producer Noel Clarke, best known for his work on “Doctor Who”, has been accused by 20 women of sexual harassment.

    Clarke, who recently won a BAFTA award, has an established history of sexual harassment, bullying, unwanted groping and touching dating back to 2004, according to a report by The Guardian.

    The actor has also been accused of secretly filming the nude auditions of female actors.

    The women, who have come forward with the allegations, say he preyed on them at the beginning of their career and they were afraid of speaking the truth for the power he wields in the British film-and-television industry.

    Clarke would harass female colleagues with repeated sexual advances, sometimes physically, and if they refused, he would intimidate them into staying silent about his actions.

    “It was just constant, inappropriate comments,” one woman alleged.

    “He was always trying to steer the conversation towards sex.”

    “Crazy Rich Asians” star Jing Lusi, who worked with Clarke on the 2020 film “SAS: Red Notice”, alleged that he had propositioned her for sex during a business dinner.

    When she shot down his advances, Lusi said, Clarke reacted in a “disturbing” way.

    “(He was) really laying it on thick and grossly and quite explicitly,” she recalled.

    Clarke, who is married and has three children, has denied every allegation but admitted to once making “inappropriate comments” to a woman and apologized for them at the time.

    “In a 20-year career, I have put inclusivity and diversity at the forefront of my work and never had a complaint made against me. If anyone who has worked with me has ever felt uncomfortable or disrespected, I sincerely apologize,” Clarke said.

    “I vehemently deny any sexual misconduct or wrongdoing and intend to defend myself against these false allegations,” the 45-year-old actor said.

    Earlier this month, BAFTA gave Clarke an Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award even though, The Guardian claims, BAFTA was aware of the allegations against him prior to the ceremony.

    BAFTA has now suspended the award and the actor’s membership “in light of the allegations of serious misconduct” in the Guardian.

  • CRPF suspends chief sports officer, coach after internal probe finds them guilty of sexual harassment

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Wednesday suspended its chief sports officer DIG Khajan Singh and coach Inspector Surjit Singh after a preliminary probe found them guilty of sexual harassment of women personnel, official sources said.

    They said a committee headed by CRPF Inspector General Charu Sinha, based in Srinagar, has found the charges of sexual harassment levelled against them by a 30-year-old woman constable prima facie valid.

    “Deputy Inspector General Khajan Singh and Inspector Surjit Singh have been suspended following the recommendations of the preliminary probe conducted by the force,” a senior officer said.

    Khajan Singh, the chief sports officer of the country’s largest paramilitary force, had won a silver medal at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games in the 200m butterfly event which was India’s first medal in swimming at the event since the 1951 edition.

    Khajan Singh had earlier denied the allegations and told PTI that these charges were “absolutely false and this was done just to spoil his image”.

    In a complaint filed at Baba Haridas police station in Delhi in December last year, the woman constable accused the duo of raping her and alleged that they had sexually harassed women constables as well and later used them as “their accomplices”.

    The woman, who joined the CRPF in 2010, was stated to have later retracted her allegations during police probe.

    Sources had said in December that the woman had recorded her statement before a magistrate under CrPC section 164 where she allegedly retracted her allegations against the two CRPF sports officers.

    Former CRPF Director General Anand Prakash Maheshwari, who retired in February, had told reporters during a press conference in January that all due legal processes would be followed in this case and anyone found guilty would be punished based on the recommendations of the committee.

    The CRPF, an about 3.25 lakh personnel strong force, first inducted women in combat ranks in 1986 and it has six all-women battalions at present with an overall strength of about 8,000 personnel in them.

    It also has women personnel in sports and other administrative wings.

  • Delhi HC to hear M J Akbar’s plea against Ramani’s acquittal in defamation case on April 5

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Thursday said it will hear on April 5 a plea by former Union minister M J Akbar challenging a trial court order acquitting journalist Priya Ramani in the criminal defamation case filed against her over allegations of sexual harassment.

    The plea, which was scheduled to be heard today, could not be taken up as Justice Mukta Gupta was not holding court.

    Akbar has challenged the trial court’s February 17 order acquitting Ramani in the case on grounds that a woman has the right to put grievances before any platform of her choice even after decades.

    The trial court had dismissed the complaint filed by Akbar, saying no charges were proved against Ramani.

    It had said it was of the considered view that the case of Akbar regarding commission of offence punishable under Section 500 (punishment for the offence of defamation) IPC against Ramani is not proved and she is acquitted for the same.

    The court had said it was shameful that crimes against women are taking place in a country where mega epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana were written about respecting them.

    The glass ceiling will not prevent Indian women as a roadblock in advancement in society of equal opportunities, it had said.

    Ramani had made allegations of sexual misconduct against Akbar in the wake of the #MeToo movement in 2018.

    Akbar had filed the complaint against Ramani on October 15, 2018 for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of sexual misconduct decades ago.

    He resigned as a Union minister on October 17, 2018.

  • UP cop arrested after woman alleges sexual harassment, fake cases against family

    By PTI
    GORAKHPUR: A police sub-inspector in the nearby Basti district was arrested Monday after a woman accused him of sexually harassing her and “trapping” her family into various cases of land dispute, police said.

    They said an FIR was registered Saturday against more than 15 people including Sub-inspector Deepak Singh, who was deployed earlier at Sonupar police post under Kotwali police station.

    Singh was arrested and sent to jail Monday, a police official said.

    The woman has alleged in her complaint that during the coronavirus-induced lockdown in March last year, the SI inspector had stopped her scooter as she was not wearing a mask and took her mobile number.

    After that he started sending her “objectionable” messages and tried to have a relationship with her and when she refused, he along with the help of other policemen and revenue department employees, trapped her family into various police cases of land dispute and harassed her, she has alleged.

    The woman and her family appealed to state women commission and chief minister Yogi Adityanath for help.

    On Saturday, Gorakhpur Zone ADG Akhil Kumar and Basti’s Divisional Commissioner Anil Kumar Rai met the woman in Basti after which an FIR was lodged with the Kotwali police station the same day.

    Basti SP Hemraj Meena was transferred and Ashish Srivastav took charge as the new police chief of the district.

    The FIR has been registered against 11 named policemen, 2-3 unidentified policemen and two employees of revenue department, police said.

    The case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and under the IT Act, police said.

    “The investigation has been initiated and further action will be taken on the basis of reports of the probe,” new SP Ashish Srivastav said.

  • Female BJP worker alleges sexual harassment inside library of party office in Bhopal, probe ordered

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: A video showing a young female BJP worker alleging sexual harassment inside the Nanaji Deshmukh Library in the state party office in Bhopal has left the ruling party in Madhya Pradesh embarrassed. In the video, which has gone viral over social media, the young girl is seen narrating what allegedly happened to her recently at the library.

    “I hail from a small town and have come to Bhopal out of commitment to the country and the BJP organisation and daily spend 18 out of 24 hours to deeply understand the party. As part of it, I spend considerable time at the Nanaji Deshmukh Library at the BJP office in Bhopal reading books on our party’s ideology,” the young female BJP worker is seen saying in the video.

    “But since last few months, I’ve been regularly facing harassment, which is condemnable. On March 12, an elderly man in the library molested me and even asked me many times to come to his house. He has also been repeatedly asking me to drop him home on my mobike,” the girl alleged in the video.

    But it’s not the young female BJP worker alone who has alleged harassment by the elderly man at the library at the state party HQ, as her friend also alleged that the same elderly man has been troubling her over phone regularly, owing to which she was forced to block his phone number.

    “Instead of helping us, the library in-charge threw my bag (which contained cell-phone and some other important things) out of the library on Tuesday and isn’t allowing me at the library anymore.”

    The female BJP worker has appealed to the national and state BJP leaders, including CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan to get the video footage of March 12 and March 15 of BJP office checked, which will reveal what happened with her.

    The young party worker has also alleged that a male party worker had been recently stalking her.

    The opposition Congress’s state spokesperson Narendra Saluja demanded that the police immediately record the statements of two girls seen in the video and conduct a thorough probe in the matter, before acting against those responsible.

    Saluja also questioned that the CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan needs to explain how safe women and girls are at the BJP office, since the entire matter pertains to BJP office only.

    The state BJP general secretary Bhagwandas Sabnani confirmed to The New Indian Express, that the one of the girls was associated with the party and the entire matter is very serious. “The state BJP president VD Sharma has asked me to probe the entire episode and act accordingly,” Sabnani said.

  • Maharashtra govt official booked for seeking sexual favours from woman

    By PTI
    LATUR: A case has been registered against a district social welfare officer of Latur Zilla Parishad in Maharashtra for allegedly demanding sexual favours from a woman, police said on Friday.

    According to the complaint lodged by the 23-year-old woman, her father, who was employed as a teacher at a government-aided school, had died a few years ago, following which she had applied for the job on compassionate grounds, an official said.

    The accused Sunil Nagesh Khamitkar allegedly delayed the woman’s appointment, despite the fact that her name was on a list and the post was lying vacant, the official said.

    The accused allegedly demanded a bribe, but the victim didn’t have the money to pay him, he said.

    Khamitkar allegedly called the woman to the Zilla Parishad office on January 22 and demanded sexual favours from her in exchange of the job appointment letter, the official said.

    Based on the complaint, the Shivaji Nagar police on Thursday registered a case against Khamitkar under relevant sections of the IPC and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Attrocities) Act, he added.

  • Woman sexually harassed in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli

    By PTI
    MUZAFFARNAGAR: A 28-year-old woman was allegedly sexually harassed by a man in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district, police said on Saturday.

    SHO Shyambir Singh said the incident took place on Friday when the woman was alone at her house.

    Rajbir entered her house and sexually harassed her, the SHO said.

    A case was registered under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and Section 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) of the IPC against Rajbir and a probe into the matter was underway, he added.

    In another case, a six-year-old boy was allegedly sodomised at a village in Shamli district on Friday, the police said.

    According to a complaint lodged at Jhinjhana police station, a 14-year-old boy took the alleged victim to a nearby field and sodomised him.

    The police said an investigation into the matter was underway.

  • CB-CID files FIR against former special director general of police Rajesh Das over sexual harassment allegations

    By Express News Service
    CHENNAI: The Crime Branch CID (CB-CID) of Tamil Nadu police on Sunday registered an FIR against former special director general of police Rajesh Das over sexual harassment allegations levelled against him by a woman IPS officer, highly-placed sources said. 

    Das has been booked under Section 354 (outraging the modesty of woman) of the IPC and Sections 3 (prohibition of harassment of woman) and 4 (penalty for harassment of woman) of the TN Prevention of Women Harassment Act.

    Sources said the FIR also makes mention of Chengalpattu Superintendent of Police D Kannan, who admitted to TNIE that he had tried to stop the woman IPS officer when she was on her way to Chennai to file the complaint against Das. Kannan claimed to have done so on the orders of Das, who was his superior officer. Das, who was placed on compulsory wait after the woman’s complaint, has denied all allegations against him. 

    The CB-CID registered the case a day after Tamil Nadu DGP J K Tripathy issued an order on Saturday directing the department to investigate the allegations levelled by the woman IPS officer against Das.

    ALSO READ: Tamil Nadu govt forms panel to probe sexual harassment complaint against top cop Earlier, the State government set up an Internal Complaints Committee, as per the Sexual Harassment Act, to look into the case, days after the woman filed the complaint. The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has also taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and sought a detailed report from the government and the DGP in two weeks.

    According to the complaint, Das harassed the IPS officer when they were were deputed to State’s central districts during a recent trip of the Chief Minister.