FIR lodged under IPC Section 354 after IITian’s complaint triggers probe; police role in not lodging FIR right away also under scanner
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A 30-year-old constable was suspended on Saturday for alleged sexual harassment of a 19-year-old IIT student in the early hours of Friday on Palm Beach. According to the complaint filed by the victim, the constable in an inebriated state had touched the woman inappropriately. He had also forced her to sit on his bike. Agitated by his unwanted sexual advances, the woman first approached the Sanpada police, which refused to file her complaint. An FIR was finally registered at the Powai police station. The Navi Mumbai Commissioner Milind Bharambe, has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
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“A probe into the constable’s alleged misconduct has been initiated on the Commissioner’s behest. The alleged ignorant role of the Sanpada police is also being looked into,” said DCP (Zone 1) Vivek Pansare. The constable has been suspended by the police commissioner after preliminary investigation.
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According to the police, the Mumbai resident was visiting Navi Mumbai on Thursday. On Friday morning around 3.15 am, the victim was at Bhumiraj Costarica building at Palm Beach Road, Sanpada along with her friend, when constable Deepak Rathod stopped his bike next to them. “He asked what they were doing at an odd hour. He also asked for her number to which the victim refused to share. The constable then touched her inappropriately and forced her to sit on his bike,” claimed a source in the police. “When the woman and her friend fought back, he escaped the spot,” the source added.
The horror did not end for the woman there. After the incident, the two friends rushed to Sanpada police station to register a complaint, but the officers on duty allegedly didn’t oblige and sent them off. The woman returned to her home and lodged an FIR with the Powai police station later on Friday. The complaint was then transferred to Sanpada police on Friday night, under whose jurisdiction the incident had occurred. According to the FIR, Rathod who is attached to Sanpada police station, has been booked under IPC Section 354 (sexual harassment).
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