The State government on Wednesday informed the Madras High Court that the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) had so far examined 50 witnesses and collected CCTV footage following a complaint lodged by a woman SP last month accusing the then Special DGP of having harassed her sexually. The complainant had charged another Superintendent of Police with having waylaid her when she was on the way to lodge a complaint.
When a public interest litigation petition seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the issue was listed for admission before Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, special senior counsel for the State government A.L. Somayaji said that apart from the criminal investigation carried out by the CB-CID, an inquiry by the Internal Complaints Committee was under way against the former Special DGP with respect to the charge of sexual harassment at workplace.
The senior counsel said Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the issue and decided that the court would monitor the probe. The CB-CID had agreed to file periodical status reports before the court, he added. After hearing him, the Chief Justice said the issue of suo motu cognisance taken by the single judge was brought to his notice on the administrative side and he had ordered its listing before an appropriate Bench. He simply adjourned the PIL petition filed by a former Additional SP by four weeks.
Meanwhile, advocate Abdul Saleem, representing the former Special DGP, complained to the court that several debates were held tarnishing his image despite the single judge having passed an order restraining political parties from politicising the issue and the media from revealing the names of the accused, the complainant as well as witnesses involved in the case. He said Section 16 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, states that even the name of the accused should not be revealed.
