IAS officer says senior ‘sexually harassed’ her

CHANDIGARH: A Haryana-cadre woman Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer accused her boss of sexual harassment on Sunday, a charge that was denied by the male officer.

Writing in Hindi on Facebook, the 28-year-old woman alleged that her boss sexually harassed her for “writing dissenting notes on official files”.

The woman said she forwarded her complaint to the Chandigarh police on Sunday through an email and lodged a complaint with competent authorities. Repeated phone calls and text messages to state chief secretary DS Dhesi failed to elicit a response till the time of going to print.

The woman officer said she was fine being named in the media but Hindustan Times has withheld the identities of both the complainant and the accused because the matter is pending investigation.

In her Facebook post, the woman alleged that her boss used to force her to stay in office till 7 or 8 pm. “On May 22 afternoon, he told me that I should mend my ways…he asked me not to record adverse comments on files. He said if I did not follow his direction, he would get me transferred. He also threatened to spoil my ACR (annual confidential report).”

“The senior officer summoned me on May 31 and instructed his staff that no other person should enter the room…”

“He asked me to say what type of work I wanted to do, whether I want departmental work or time-pass work... And then he asked me to stop writing adverse comments on files. He told me that he was explaining things to me in the same manner that things are explained to a newlywed bride. His behaviour seemed immoral,” she alleged.

The male officer called the charges “baseless” and said he was open to any type of investigation. “She got posted in my department around a month ago...though she said wrong things to my staff as well, I asked them to ignore it.

“It’s my duty to teach work to junior officers in my department and I did tell her a couple of times when she made mistakes in official files. But there was never any misbehaviour of any kind,” he said.

In her Facebook post, the woman wrote that her police security had been withdrawn and that she had sent an e-mail to the office of President about the incident.

On June 6, she alleged that the senior officer called her in his office at 5 pm and asked her to stay there till 7.39 pm.”i was sitting on the other side of the table in front of him. He asked me to get up and come closer to his chair. On the pretext of how to work on computer, he tried to come close and touch me,” she further alleged.

The male officer dismissed the allegations. “I have always tried to ensure that someone was present in my office while she was there. I don’t think that she was alone in my office, barring for a few minutes on a couple of occasions,” he claimed.