02 September,2016 08:29 AM IST | | Faisal Tandel
In yet another incident of a senior sexually harassing a subordinate, a 31-year-old female police constable with the Thane Central Jail has filed a complaint against Hiralal Jadhav
Thane jail chief Hiralal Jadhav narrowly escaped being shunted out in disgrace a few months ago after an anonymous complaint revealed his corrupt practices
In yet another incident of a senior sexually harassing a subordinate, a 31-year-old female police constable with the Thane Central Jail has filed a complaint against Hiralal Jadhav, Thane Jail's superintendent of police.
The complaint under Sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 354 A (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures) was registered with the Thane police on Wednesday night. On Thursday, Jadhav applied for anticipatory bail.
Hiralal Jadhav has a past record of harassing women officers
Meanwhile, an inquiry by the prisons department under Rajvardhan Sinha, Inspector General (IG) of Police, was initiated and a report was filed on Thursday evening. As evidence, the complainant has turned in WhatsApp messages and audio clips that Jadhav sent her, despite her protestations. Interestingly, Jadhav has previously been suspended for 18 months over similar behaviour.
Sequence of events
According to the police, the female constable was posted to the Thane jail six months ago and allocated a police quarters on a temporary basis.
However, she had plans of moving her mother and sister with her, but on August 22, there was a reshuffle and her quarters were allotted to someone else. At the time, she has said in her statement, she requested Jadhav to look into the matter and help her out.
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"He assured her that he would aid her and exchanged phone numbers, asking her to call him later in the evening. Over the next few days though, he started sending her unwarranted greetings, forwarding poetry and dialogues and even some posed pictures of himself. He also started asking her to go out on long drives with him and meet him outside of work. On August 26 at around 8 pm, Jadhav asked her to meet him at the Kalwa Bridge circle, where he was waiting in his car. When she refused to sit in, he grabbed her hand and forced her inside, but she managed to get away," said an officer on condition of anonymity.
Chain of command
Following the incident, on August 28 and 29, the constable approached Swati Sathe, deputy inspector general (prison, South region) and submitted the evidence along with her statement.
Two days passed, but with no response forthcoming from her higher-ups, she decided to approach the Thane police on Wednesday and register a case against Jadhav. She was accompanied by 10 other staffers who vouched for her and gave their statements to the police.
Police says
MV Dharmadhikari, senior police inspector, Thane police station said, "We have registered a sexual harassment case based on the statement given by the complainant. Further, we have started gathering evidence, including that provided by the female constable. Soon, we will take the statement of other staff members and take action accordingly."
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Now, taking cognizance of the complaint, the prison department has initiated an inquiry. Maharashtra additional director general of police, prison, Bhushan Upadhay confirmed the development and said, "We have initiated an inquiry against Jadhav."
