Chennai: Suspended special director general of police (DGP) Rajesh Das was convicted and jailed Friday for three years on charges of sexually harassing a woman colleague.
The Villupuram Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) sentenced Das under two separate sections for which the jail term will run concurrently. The first is under Section 354 A (ii) (assaulting or using criminal force to any woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for which Das will have to serve a three-year jail term.
Under Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, Das has been given three-year jail and Rs 10,000 fine. Another Rs 500 fine was imposed on him for wrongful restraint under IPC.
The court, however, granted bail and 30-day time to Das to appeal.
The then Chengalpattu SP D. Kannan — who was booked by the CB-CID for trying to stop the woman IPS officer from giving a complaint against Das — was let off by the Villupuram court with a fine of Rs 500.
The case
In her complaint filed on 1 March, 2021, the woman IPS officer accused Das of sexually harassing her in his vehicle while they were on security duty during an election campaign of then Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
She alleged the special DGP told her to accompany him in his car during Palaniswami’s meeting on 21 February.
The senior officer allegedly held her hand and sang “for about 20 minutes”, after which he kissed her hand, the FIR reads.
“I took my hand away and told him I was not comfortable and that it was inappropriate. He said (give me) only five minutes and took my hand again,” it states. “At this point due to tension and anxiety, sweat had built up on my palms and realising it, he gave me his towel to wipe off the sweat.”
The senior officer then allegedly showed her a photograph — which he had clicked of her earlier — during a visit to her office. The FIR states that the IPS officer told her that he had saved the picture among his ‘favourites’ so that he could easily access it.
She also alleged that Das went to great lengths to prevent her from reporting the misdemeanour, repeatedly pleading with her and even misusing government machinery to intimidate her.
In the FIR, the woman officer also alleged that the special DG sought forgiveness when he learnt she was about to file a complaint with the “head of the police in Chennai”, a day after the incident.
Das told her that he would “fall at her feet and apologise for his actions”, she said, adding that he even allegedly called up her father-in-law to reach a “compromise and conciliation”.
Soon after the complaint was filed, the IPS officer was put on compulsory wait, and later was suspended by the state government.
The case proceedings
The CB-CID had filed a 400-page charge sheet in the case, which saw close to 70 witnesses being examined.
Das had moved the Madras High Court months after the case was filed seeking to transfer the trial from the CJM court to the territorial court, stating that the court in Villupuram did not have jurisdiction of the case. The high court, however, turned down the request after it found no ‘perversity’ in the Villupuram court’s order in rejecting a similar petition.
Later, he approached the Supreme Court urging the trial to be shifted out of Tamil Nadu, but this plea was also set aside.
In April this year, Das moved the high court to recall and cross-examine the woman IPS officer. During the hearing, the prosecution informed the court that the complainant was cross-examined for 13 days in the trial court while her husband faced it for 2 days.
The prosecution had contended that the petition filed by Das was done to delay the trial following which the high court rejected the senior officer’s application.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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