Sexual harassment: Department probe against HCS officer, no arrest

PANCHKULA: A day after Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officer Reagan Kumar was accused of sexual harassment and stalking, the state government ordered the withdrawal of work from him and marked an internal inquiry against him on Wednesday.

The action came on a day Panchkula police registered a case of stalking and sexual harassment against Kumar. A junior colleague had accused Kumar him of calling her to his cabin and harassing her on Tuesday.

Panchkula assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Noopur Bishnoi, who is heading the investigation, said they had registered the case against Kumar at the women’s police station in Sector 5, but were yet to arrest him. Kumar has been charged with sections 354-A (sexual harassment) and 354-D (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “We have cross-checked CCTV camera footage to verify the allegations levelled by the woman,” she said.

Haryana director (secondary education) Rajiv Rattan ordered to withdraw work allotted to Kumar with immediate effect over “a serious complaint from a female employee regarding sexual harassment”. The state education department has also handed over the matter to an internal complaints committee for inquiry. There is no deadline for the committee, but it has been directed to submit its report at the earliest.

In her complaint to the police on Tuesday, the woman alleged that Kumar, who was posted in Panchkula on April 4, used to follow her when she went home after work since the day he joined office. She even complained about his behavior to her elder brother, who started picking her up from the office regularly.

On May 27, the officer allegedly asked the woman to join him for a cup of coffee, but she declined. On Tuesday, he called the complainant to his office during lunch time around 1.30 pm.

He asked her to type an official document for him. When the woman started typing the document in his office, he allegedly went near her and sexually harassed her. The woman raised the alarm and the entire staff gathered there and reprimanded the HCS officer.

The woman then called her family members to the office and a complaint was moved against Kumar with the local police and the officer’s high-ups. Later, a formal police complaint was filed at the women’s police station in Sector 5.

Colleagues of the accused claimed that he was drunk at the time of the incident, but police did not get him medically examined.