Gurugram: Haryana IPS officer Sumit Kumar has been cleared of allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him last October in a letter, purportedly by seven women police personnel, when he was posted as Superintendent of Police (Jind), ThePrint has learnt.
A senior police officer told ThePrint a three-member all-women Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Mamta Singh, Additional Director General of Police (State Crime Branch), and comprising Sangeeta Kalia, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Indian Reserve Battalion, Bhondsi, and Astha Modi, Superintendent of Police, Fatehabad, has submitted its final report, exonerating Kumar of all charges and declaring the allegations baseless.
The SIT found no evidence of sexual harassment, said the officer who did not wish to be named. The officer added that the committee recorded statements of 168 women police personnel and also reviewed the service records of women police personnel who served under Kumar during his tenure in Jind. “The committee concluded that no complainant or victim came forward to record her statement before the SIT,” said the officer.
Sumit Kumar told The Print that he was always confident that he would be proven innocent since there was no truth in the allegations and there were no complainants either. “The episode should make people, particularly the media, rethink how they should handle such situations in the future because the damage this episode has caused to my reputation will never be repaired,” he said.
Renu Bhatia, chairperson of the Haryana State Commission for Women, who had taken suo motu cognizance of the complaint through media reports and had summoned Kumar to the commission office at Panchkula, said Friday she was yet to receive a copy of the report.
“I have sought a copy of the report twice by writing to the police headquarters. But, I have not been supplied a copy so far. Only once I see the report and understand on what basis the SIT has given the clean chit will I be able to make any comments,” Bhatia told ThePrint.
On 26 October, 2024, the letter allegedly signed by seven women police personnel accusing Sumit Kumar of sexual harassment surfaced. It was addressed to Haryana CM Nayab Saini.
The letter, which went viral on social media, alleged that Kumar, in collusion with a woman officer, pressured a junior woman personnel into a physical relationship and threatened to ruin her Annual Confidential Report (ACR) if she refused. The letter further stated that if no action was taken, the complainants would be left with no choice but to end their lives.
Given the seriousness of the allegations, the DGP constituted an SIT under ADGP Mamta Singh. The Haryana women’s commission also initiated a separate probe into the matter.
During the investigation, Kumar was transferred from Jind to Ambala as SP (Railways) to ensure an impartial inquiry.
After months of investigation, the inquiry committee in its final report concluded that no credible evidence was found to support the charges against Sumit Kumar.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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