#MeToo : Woman officer of Assam police accuses top boss of sexual harassment
Guwahati, Nov 6 (IBNS) : Amid the ongoing #MeToo movement, a policewoman in Assam has claimed that she was sexually harassed by a top officer in 2012.
The woman cop also said that her husband had committed suicide after she had filed a complaint against the senior police officer.
Leena Doley, presently working as an Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Majuli district, has shared her story on social media , stating, “I am a survivor of sexual harassment at the workplace”.
Leena Doley, an Assam Police Service (APS) officer, has accused Assam’s current ADGP (Law & Order) Mukesh Agrawal of sexual harassment.
“In March of 2012, one of my seniors, Mukesh Agrawal, IPS, IGP (L), Assam, now ADGP (L&O), Assam, Guwahati, offered to take me on a holiday. With him for the efficient work I had done. I of course refused and took to the natural course of justice. I had no intention of taking a holiday with my boss. And I said so to my organisation boss – the DGP, Assam,” she shared.
“Anyway, a lot transpired after that – my written complaint against Mukesh Agrawal, IPS, IGP (L), Assam, now ADGP (L&O), Assam, Guwahati.
“To cut a long story short, my husband committed suicide after around six months of my submitting my complaint against Mukesh Agrawal,” she continued on her Facebook page.
In her post Doley recounted that after filing the complaint, the then Addl. Chief Secretary Emily Choudhury came to her house and assured her that it was not because of the complaint that her husband committed suicide.
“ The Enquiry Officer, Emily Choudhury, IAS, the then Addl. Chief Secretary, Assam, came to my house on the first day itself, the soonest possible, to assure me that it was not because of the complaint that my husband killed himself. I didn’t react. I was beyond any reaction. But the enquiry procedures had not started till then,” mentioned the Majuli ASP.
Doley claimed that her case was dismissed despite IAS officer Agrawal himself had admitted to his misconduct.
“My case was dismissed as one of misunderstanding although the perpetrator himself had admitted to the fact that the perpetrator had asked me to accompany him to a holiday destination without of course telling my husband,” she said.
“Also, the wife of the perpetrator had filed a defamation case against me for supposedly defaming her husband. I filed a revision petition against it in the Gauhati High Court. I won the case in the High Court.
“I’m now beyond any redemption. I only feel some kind of contentment that the case against me resulted in a judgement that complainants cannot be persecuted upon for filing a case against sexual predators,” Doley said.
She said that she never got justice the complaint she filed. “The enquiry committee concluded that it was a misunderstanding even when the perpetrator himself admitted to the fact of the allegation made by me,” Doley stated.
The woman police officer also mentioned that her husband committed suicide on a different ground. Doley said she was prompted to share her story after #MeToo movement gained momentum.
"...it is my duty to inform everyone of the fact that as per the Gauhati High Court judgement in the above case, defamation cases against complainants cannot be filed during pendency of the allegation”.
“And I’m sure, after my experience, no one else would come out with their stories in govt. departments. I’m an example of defeat. But still, for all of us, who have stood against it, strength to us!!#MeToo,” she mentioned.
(Reporting by Hemanta Kuma Nath)
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