TN woman moves SHRC against police officials in sexual harassment case

Chennai, Feb 6 A woman volunteer working with a Tamil Nadu-based NGO has filed a complaint with the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) against nine police officers for failing to register a complaint about the sexual harassment that she had allegedly faced at a public event.

The complaint filed on Saturday said that the police officers did not take any action on the alleged sexual harassment that she had faced on January 31.

The woman volunteer with an environmental NGO based in Chennai was present at a public hearing on January 31 against the Pen Memorial on Marina beach and she had to face sexual harassment.

The woman in her complaint to the SHRC said that she was made to run from one police station to the other and wait for long hours to register the complaint.

She added that she was made to run around between the Triplicane police station and Anna Salai All-Women police stations.

The 23-year-old volunteer said that she and three other women had to endure mental trauma and pressure as well as abuse from the police while filing the complaint and obtaining a community service register (CSR) copy.

She mentioned in the complaint that at the All-Women police station, she was made to wait for long hours for the CSR copy with the officials informing her that they need permission from the Assistant Commissioner of City police to issue a copy.

The woman said that while she filed a complaint at the Triplicane police station at 3.40 p.m., she was given the copy only at 10.40 p.m. The police said that an investigation is underway concerning the complaint of the woman.

The nine policemen against whom the complaint was filed include Assistant Commissioner of Police, M. Bhaskaran.