The Crime Branch-CID on Thursday, July 29, filed a chargesheet before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Villupuram against the former Special Director General of Police who stands accused of sexual harassment by a woman IPS officer. According to reports, the chargesheet, filed by investigating officer Gomathy, is over 400 pages long, and also includes the names of the other officers who had tried to discourage the woman IPS officer from filing a complaint against the former Special DGP.
In February this year, the CB-CID initiated a probe regarding the allegations made by the woman IPS officer. The CB-CID had found prima-facie evidence against the accused and had asked the state for sanction to prosecute him. After receiving a go-ahead from the government, the CB-CID had registered in February a case under Section 354 A (Sexual Harassment), 506 (1) (criminal intimidation) and 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint) penal code and Section 4 of the Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.
The allegations came to light after the Tamil Nadu government formed a six-member committee to further investigate the matter and the accused was suspended from his post as Special DGP.
According to the complaint filed by the woman officer, the former DGP had requested her to accompany her in his car post their duty in Trichy and Pudukottai, where then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami was touring, which is when the former DGP sexually harassed her. The incident allegedly took place in Karur on February 21, 2021.
Three IPS officers were also accused of trying to stop the woman officer from filing the complaint. In her complaint, the woman alleged that 10 to 15 police personnel in Chengalpattu blocked the car, threatened her PSO (personal security officer) and attempted to make her speak to the DGP rank official on the phone.
Two of these officers are in the same ranks of the woman officer, while the third one was a senior officer, confirm reports. Citing these charges, the CB-CID had recommended taking action against the other officers involved in the case as well. Several women police officers had also asked the Tamil Nadu DGP to take action in the case.
This is not the first such allegation of sexual harassment against an IPS officer in Tamil Nadu. In August 2018, a Tamil Nadu woman Superintendent of Police had accused S Murugan IPS, the then Joint Director in the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), of sexually harassing her. Murugan, who was Tamil Nadu's Inspector General, South Zone, earlier this year, was transferred on the orders of the Election Commission to a non-election post ahead of the elections.