An employee of the Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA) has been booked by the Delhi Police for allegedly repeatedly sexually harassing an artist from the Northeast.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) B.K. Singh said the case was registered after the victim visited the Tilak Marg police station on Thursday and recorded her statement.
“We have booked the official under Sections 354 A (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures) and 354-D (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67A (Punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form) of the IT Act,” said Mr. Singh.
IT Act slapped
The provision of the IT Act was slapped because of some lewd messages sent to the victim’s phone, the officer added.
The development comes a couple of months after the employee allegedly sent indecent messages and pictures to the woman on Facebook, following which she blocked him immediately.
She had first emailed a complaint to the Northeast Cell of the Delhi Police and later sent the same to the New Delhi district police in June. The woman had also written to the Union Ministry of Culture and the Secretary and Chairman, LKA, in the matter.
‘Delayed response’
After some delay, Vishalakshi Nigam, the head of the women’s cell, LKA, had replied to her saying that the Akademi had initiated an inquiry into the matter. The victim will now be produced before a magistrate to record her statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, after which the accused will be arrested.
On the delay caused in registering the FIR, Mr. Singh said they had been waiting for the woman to record her statement in person.
Allegations made
Meanwhile, the woman alleged that an officer of the Cyber Cell of the Tilak Marg police station did not cooperate with her when she went to record her statement.
The woman claimed that Sub-Inspector Sunil Kumar tried to tutor her to alter the wordings of her complaint and raised objection to the fact that she was accompanied by constables from the Northeast and that she had approached the Northeast cell first.
Responding to the allegations, Mr. Singh said the argument happened when the victim did not agree to hand over her phone to the officer for probe.
