Sakshi Chhabra
The Madras High court directed the CB-CID to look into the case of sexual harassment of a woman IPS officer by a senior police officer, a special DGB and to complete the probe within six weeks.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh has taken suo moto cognizance of the alleged sexual harassment case and has decided to look into the case itself.
In accordance, the Tamil Nadu government has suspended the accused DGP under sexual harassment charges. This was done after the Madras HC directed the Tamil Nadu government to suspend the accused DGP.
The Public Prosecutor informed the court that nearly 19 witnesses were examined and in the initial stage of the investigation 87 witnesses were examined taking it to a total of 106 witnesses. Their statements have been recorded under Section 161(3) of CrPC.
The investigator assured the court that the investigation will be completed within 4 to 6 weeks and necessary action will be taken regarding the same after taking sanctions from the authorities.
The court also learned that the DGP used his special powers to prevent the victim from filing an FIR against him. The judge expressed his concern that when an IPS officer can be threatened to not file an FIR, what must be the condition of an ordinary women getting harassed and being victims of such acts.
Thus, the court ordered CB-CID to look into the investigation and conduct the investigation effectively. The HC will be monitoring the case, says Madras HC.
The case will be heard next on June 18.
