Tamil Nadu government to probe sexual allegation complaint against Special DGP; officer put on ‘compulsory wait’

Tamil Nadu government Wednesday issued an order to constitute an enquiry committee to probe the sexual allegation complaint filed by a woman IAS officer against Special Director General of Police (Law and order) Rajesh Das. The officer has been put on ‘compulsory wait’, which means he will not get any posting and cannot carry out his duties as the Special DGP as long as the probe is on.

According to sources, the IAS officer had filed the complaint to both Home Secretary and the Director General of Police a couple of days ago, claiming that Das had misbehaved with her in his car.

IAS officer Jayashree Ragunandan will be the presiding officer for the committee comprising IPS officers Seema Agarwal, A Arun and Shamoondeswari, Chief Administrative Officer VK Ramesh Babu, Head (Programme Management) of International Justice Mission Loretta Jhona.

“The Committee shall take necessary further course of action as per the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (Central Act 14 to 2013) on the said complaint,” the order read.

Earlier in the day, DMK leader MK Stalin slammed Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami claiming that he is protecting the accused officer. He said the Chief Minister should hang his head in shame for not being able to provide security for women police officers. He added that Rajesh Das should be suspended and a criminal case should be filed against him.

DMK MP Kanimozhi wrote on Twitter that the protector also needs protection during the AIADMK 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?” she tweeted.