In a shocking incident, an IPS officer in Assam was promoted to a senior position despite being charged with the sexual harassment and assault of a 14-year-old teenager. According to the Independent, the victim is the daughter of a colleague.
A case was registered by the mother of the victim at Guwahati city police under the POSCO Act in January 2020. He was charged in May this year but the trial of the case is yet to begin, reports Hindustan Times.
The incident of sexual assault has allegedly taken place in December 2019. According to the charge sheet, the victim had attended the accused’s son’s birthday party along with her mother, who is a senior police officer, and her brother. The accused had taken the 3 to show them his office building near his house.
During this time, the mother had excused herself to go to the washroom. It was then when the IPS officer allegedly tried to kiss the girl twice on the lips in the presence of her brother.
Later that day, he allegedly also tried to touch the girl inappropriately with the excuse of showing her a video on his phone and tried to kiss her again, but the girl ran from the spot.
When the victim’s mother got to know about the incident, she confronted the officer, to which he responded by apologising. However, the mother filed a police complaint against him.
“During the investigation, sufficient evidence has been found to prove that the accused police officer…committed aggravated sexual assault. The accused person used criminal force on the minor victim girl to outrage her modesty, sexually harassed her,” reads the charge sheet.
However, regarding the promotion of the accused, the Assam Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said:
“If the court decides, he [the accused ] will be arrested as per law. Until the decision is given by the court, we have to use his services.”
Innocent until proven guilty? What do you think of this incident? Tell us.