A local complaint committee (LCC) has been constituted and an enquiry initiated after a complaint of sexual harassment was lodged last month against the then Superintendent of Police of an Arunachal Pradesh district by a woman police constable working under him. The complainant had approached the internal complaints committee (ICC) of her workplace on June 24. The police woman said she had received a message from the personal number of the then SP saying ‘Hi’ in late May, to which she did not respond, assuming that it had been sent by mistake. After that, she alleged, she received a set of messages late at night on June 23 “seeking for a sexual consensus blatantly” as well as a voice call on Whatsapp, which she said she did not respond to. She said the incident triggered a sense of “fear psychosis” in her. “Ironically, a police officer, being a law enforcement agency, who is supposed to ensure the safety of women in the workplace – he himself (is) committing and encouraging the same crimes against his female staff,” she alleged. The accused officer is no longer posted in the district and the complaint against him had been lodged at the end of his stint since an order by the Ministry of Home Affairs on June 8 had notified his transfer to New Delhi. WhatsApp screenshots submitted by the complainant purportedly show the accused sending her messages from 11:14 pm onwards on June 23, asking her to come to his house the next day to "help" him. A few days after this, a meeting of the ICC was held, where it decided to transfer the case to the LCC “for further necessary action and for the interest of justice to the victim”, given that the complaints were made against the employer since the appointing authority with respect to constables is the Superintendent of Police.
