Sexual harassment case: SIT to summon Haryana IAS officer

The special investigation team (SIT) of the Chandigarh Police on Wednesday initiated its probe into the case of sexual harassment against senior Haryana IAS officer SN Roy, the principal secretary of urban local bodies department, with recording of statement of the 33-year-old complainant woman.

The special investigation team (SIT) of the Chandigarh Police on Wednesday initiated its probe into the case of sexual harassment against senior Haryana IAS officer SN Roy, the principal secretary of urban local bodies department, with recording of statement of the 33-year-old complainant woman.

The complainant gave her statement at the police headquarters here before the SIT comprising SP (headquarters) Urvija Goel, ASP Guriqbal Singh Sidhu and Sector 19 SHO Maninder Singh.

After recording her statement, the police have decided to summon the IAS officer to record his statement.

Meanwhile, the police said that they could not register an FIR immediately as there was a considerable gap between the incident and the filing of the complaint. In such cases, they said, a preliminary enquiry (PE) is a mandatory exercise to cross-examine all the facts of the case and to gather evidence or defence by both the parties.

A senior officer said that there was another roadblock in the complaint as the woman alleged that she was raped on the pretext of marriage whereas there was a parallel complaint lodged by the IAS officer in which he alleged that he was blackmailed by the woman for extorting money.

The officer said that in such cases where there were parallel complaints, the police are duty-bound to probe the facts of the complaints before taking a final call on registration of an FIR.

Meanwhile, the complainant alleged that the SIT had asked her to give in writing that she did not want any inquiry by the SIT members. She added that she was being harassed.

She said that she did not understand why the police did not register an FIR against Roy when she had already lodged a complaint against him.

She said that after being harassed, she immediately went to the Raj Bhawan to complain to the governor. She said the latter was not present there, but she got an appointment for coming Tuesday and would request the governor to direct the police to lodge an FIR.

On the other hand, SP Urvija Goel denied the allegations and said that they had asked her to give her statement in writing which she did, as that was required as per the enquiry proceedings.

The SP said that they would also summon the IAS officer for proceeding with the inquiry.

In a complaint, the Panchkula woman on February 2 had accused Roy, 52, of sexual harassment. The complaint was marked to Haryana director general of police (DGP) YP Singal, who had forwarded it to the state chief secretary.

The complainant had alleged that Roy, whom she knew since 2008, had been sexually exploiting her for over three years while falsely claiming that he was divorced. The chief secretary had sought an explanation from Roy, who claimed that the woman had been threatening to implicate him in a false rape case in case he did not pay her `10 crore.

POLICE LOGIC FOR NO FIR

- In case of a considerable gap between the incident and the filing of the complaint, a preliminary enquiry is required to be conducted.

- Filing of a cross complaint by the IAS officer is another reason for enquiry. While the woman claimed she was raped on pretext of marriage, the IAS officer said that she had blackmailed her extortion of money.