IRMA employee accuses top official of sexual harassment

A WOMAN employee at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) has accused a top official at the institute of passing lewd comments at her and hugging her without her consent.

The Anand police Tuesday lodged an FIR in the case. Police said it will record the statement of eyewitnesses to conduct a fair probe.

The complaint, filed by the woman employee in the publication department of IRMA, claimed the top official made indecent comments in the presence of other male professors which had sexual overtones. According to the complainant, she had approached an internal committee of IRMA to initiate action against the official on March 2. The complainant told this newspaper, “He joined the institution in September last year. Almost immediately, he started passing sexually coloured remarks. He tried to hug me and I brushed him aside, but he is used to passing vulgar comments all the time. What pushed me to take action was a revealing video of a staffer’s daughter, who was participating in a skipping rope competition at the institute, which he posted on the official Facebook page of IRMA. Later, he deleted his post.”

According to the complainant, following her complaint with the internal committee, she was told the committee must be reconstituted.

“I didn’t trust anybody so I went to the local complaints committee after that. They were supposed to revert to me in seven days. It did not happen, so I approached the police.”

Saurabh Singh, Superintendent of Police, Anand, said, “She has told us that on three or four occasions, the official made lewd comments at her in the presence of other professors. She felt uncomfortable. On one or two occasions, she heard him say something to someone else. These comments were not targeted at her, but she has felt that her modesty has been outraged. She also mentioned one more incident when he hugged her. We have made a note of her complaint and filed the FIR. But we have to follow the Supreme Court judgment before initiating action against the official. We have to first take statements, collect evidence and interrogate other people who were present there.”

An IRMA spokesperson did not respond to calls and text messages.

The police have lodged the FIR under sections of the IPC, especially under the amended sections of sexual harassment against women, namely, 354 (A)(iv) (making sexually coloured remarks), 354 (B) (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).