The case of alleged sexual assault against National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD & PR) assistant professor Satya Ranjan Mahakul, who was arrested on Monday, got murkier.
A day after his arrest, the NIRD & PR authorities, on one hand, released a statement on Wednesday accusing police of not following procedures while arresting the accused, and on the other, its academic association head criticised the administration for denying the victim justice and revealing her name in the media release. In its statement, NIRD & PR said Cyberabad police did not adhere to recent Supreme Court directions on the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
“According to the latest directions of the Supreme Court regarding the misuse of provisions of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, ‘no arrest may be effected if an accused person is a public servant, without written permission of the appointing authority’,” a release said.
The statement also said police had summoned Mr. Mahakul for recording his statement but took him into custody without seeking written permission from the NIRD-PR.
Speaking to The Hindu , NIRD-PR Registrar Francis Laltinkhuma said the victim submitted a complaint against Mr. Mahakul to the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in February. After a probe, ICC submitted its report in which it was found the complaints were false. “The disciplinary authority, who is head of the institute, has concurred with the report. Her accusations are fictitious. The Director General has accepted the report. In fact, we were about to take action against her for the false complaint,” Dr. Laltinkhuma said.
Reacting to the NIRD & PR’s statement, president of NIRD & PR Academic Association E. V. Prakash Rao, in a letter to the media, expressed outrage over the institute naming the victim. “Most deplorably and which amounts by itself to the commission of an offence under the Act but also in violation of directions of the Supreme Court, the Registrar named the lady victim in his press release calculated to stigmatise the victim lady official,” he said. Mr. Reddy alleged NIRD & PR’s Director General W. R. Reddy was trying to protect the accused and sent the Registrar to prevent the arrest. He expressed concern that NIRD & PR administration could ‘victimise’ witnesses if they do not support the official’s stand.
Reacting to NIRD & PR’s statement, Cyberabad police maintained the arrest was made following procedures. “The accused has been booked under various sections of IPC. The SC and ST Act was another Act that was invoked. We are within our rights to arrest him. We have not received a notification of the SC direction,” Rajendra Nagar ACP T. Ashok said.
