Current affairs

Shocker from TN: Special DGP of TN Police is accused of harassing a woman police officer!

By alagu, 24 February, 2021
Tamilnadu, Police department, Sexual assault

In a shocking development, a woman IPS officer in Tamil Nadu had lodged a sexual assault complaint against Rajesh Das, who is the Special Director General of Police (Law and Order), Tamil Nadu. Rajesh Das is the husband of former Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Beela Rajesh and the position he had been holding one of the powerful posts in the Tamil Nadu police. 

As Rajesh Das is serving next to the Head of the Tamil Nadu police, a sexual assault complaint against him had appalled the state following which the Tamil Nadu Home Department has installed a special committee to probe the matter. According to reports, the woman IPS Officer had alleged that Rajesh Das had behaved inappropriately with her in his vehicle. 

Our sources say that Rajesh Das had escorted Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami recently when the latter had gone to Trichy and Perambalur. The woman IPS Officer, who was serving in Perambalur, was also on the security detail of the Chief Minister. It was during which Rajesh Das had forcibly made the woman police officer get in his car and had assaulted her inside the vehicle. 

Rajesh Das had also threatened the woman police officer that she can't give a complaint against him as he has support from the ruling party. The woman officer had managed to escape from his trap and disembarked from his car. However, Rajesh Das had again harassed her when they both were on the same vehicle during escorting the Chief Minister. 

After facing sexual abuse from the special Director General of Police, the woman police officer had come to Chennai and lodged a complaint against Rajesh Das for his awful behavior. The woman police officer had met Director General of Police Tripathy and Tamil Nadu Home Secretary Prabhakar and moved her complaint against Rajesh Das. The reports say that some of the officers had told her not to file a complaint, but she went ahead with it after which some of the woman police officers had commended her courage. 

As the woman officer had filed a complaint against him, Rajesh Das had kept her on the waiting list by citing that she hadn't informed him about going to Chennai. When the incident came to light, it had shocked the entire state with many demanding actions against Rajesh Das. Following the demand, the Tamil Nadu Home Department had installed a special team to probe the incident.

Home Secretary Prabakar had issued the order of setting up the probing team to investigate Rajesh Das and Prabhakar said that Additional Chief Secretary (Planning and Development) Jayashree Raghunandan will head the committee. Apart from the presiding officer, the committee is comprised of five members including top police officers. 

The committee consists of Seema Agarwal (Additional DGP), Arun (IGP), Shamoondeswari (Deputy IG), VK Ramesh Babu (Chief Administrative Officer at DGP Office), and Loretta Jhona, who is part of the International Justice Mission. The Home Secretary's order had further stated that the committee shall take the necessary course of action as per the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013. 

The incident of alleging the involvement of the Special DGP in a horrendous act had shocked the state and as the issue had happened ahead of the assembly polls, the opposition parties had flayed the ruling government for its less-concerned governance towards the safety of women. Taking to Twitter, DMK leader Kanimozhi said, "The protector also needs protection during ADMK rule. When a woman IPS officer is sexually harassed by a higher-ranked officer and the CM takes no notice of it, what hope do 'ordinary' women have in this regime?" According to the latest reports, the government has removed Rajesh Das from the post and kept in on the waiting list as the sequel of the sexual assault allegations. 

 

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