Noida: Woman complainant alleges SI, female constable made casteist remarks, snatched phone on recording

NOIDA: A 24-year-old woman who went to the Sector 20 police station with a complaint against officials of a private finance company who failed to pay her 18-day salary and allegedly assaulted her, has alleged that a sub inspector and a female constable present at the police station allegedly made casteist remarks on her repeatedly.
The woman who belongs to the SC community alleged that the police officers first asked her name and after knowing the same, they made several casteist remarks among themselves and later on her too.
A sub inspector and a female constable of the police station allegedly snatched her phone when they realised that the woman had started recording the conversation and tried to delete the same from her phone but remained unsuccessful.
According to Pooja Gautam, she had joined a finance solutions company based in Noida’s Sector 2 on June 18 this year but she was allegedly harassed by her company officials when she refused to stay late in the office after 7 pm.
“I left the job on July 6 because I was being harassed because I refused to work during the late hours despite the fact that my joining letter clearly specified that my working hours were from 10 am to 7 pm. When I refused to work late, the company owner increased my target to triple the amount and it became unbearable for me to work there. However, on July 7, when I went to demand my salary, I was pushed by three female staffers of the company. I dialled 112 and cops arrived but they could help me get only Rs. 2000 out of my salary,” she said.
Pooja added that on July 8 when she went to the Sector 20 police station to give her complaint against the company officials, she met sub inspector Mukesh Kumar and female constable Sunita who had been eating food.
“When I spoke to them, the SI first asked me about why I had come, my name and address and then asked about my caste. When I told them my name, their behaviour changed,” she wrote in her complaint.
Pooja alleged that the SI who was eating food allegedly asked the female constable in front of her whether she eats food at the house of those belonging to the scheduled caste to which the constable replied in negative and remarked that she did not belong to scheduled caste naming a particular caste that the complainant belongs to.
“The SI asked me if I would eat food and I told him how I could eat their food when they had already made remarks about the caste I belong to. At this point, I started recording the conversation,” she said.
In a part of the purported conversation, whose recording is with TOI, the female constable can be heard saying that in police stations, they write the caste of the victim as it is and the female constable asks the woman "not to act smart."
“The constable said that I should not act very smart. A third woman in plain clothes who was seated near them told me that they were not talking about me and asked if I was recording. They then realised that I was indeed recording their conversation and the constable then snatched my phone. She tried to delete the recording from my phone but she failed because they required my password for the same and they didn’t have it,” she said.
She said that the female constable allegedly abused her before she left the police station.
The woman however gave a written complaint to the office of the DCP (women’s safety) on Tuesday and shared her ordeal with additional DCP (law and order) Shraddha Pandey who is holding the charge of the DC.