HESCOM officer seeks justice in false ‘sexual harassment’ case

For two years, Tukaram B. Majjagi, who is presently executive engineer with the State-run Hubballi Electricity Supply Company (HESCOM), has been fighting to clear his name of the false sexual harassment charges levelled against him.

In the end, the ‘victim’ in the case, B.V. Sindhu, has now filed an affidavit alleging that she made the complaint on November 11, 2014, because a few colleagues had conspired to have Mr. Majjagi transferred out of his post in the Belagavi division of the company.

‘Suicide bid’

In fact, Mr. Majjagi was suspended following the allegations and even arrested by the police following a ‘suicide attempt’ by Ms. Sindhu. However, police inquiry and the medical report revealed that it was a stage-managed ‘suicide bid’, and the police filed ‘B’ reports to close three different cases against him, which were accepted JMFC II Court, Belagavi.

He was earlier exonerated by the Women Grievance Redressal Cell of Karnataka Power Transmission Company Ltd. (KPTCL), the parent organisation of HESCOM, and having been vindicated (on June 4, 2015), he decided to pursue the matter legally.

That is when Ms. Sindhu herself filed an affidavit before 11th Additional District Sessions Court, Belagavi, saying that she repented having made false charges against him and his colleagues Maruti Dodmani and the late M.T. Takkalaki.

In her affidavit, she submitted that Nathaji P. Patil, Ajit M. Pujari, Sarju Shahapurkar, Subhas Hallolli, Viresh Pattar, Mallikarjun Redihal, Suresh Kambale, Godal Kundaragi, and Raju Halingali had prompted her to file a sexual harassment complaint against Mr. Majjagi, as they wanted to get him transferred out of the Belagavi division. Following her affidavit, the court dismissed the petition as withdrawn.

Action sought

Now, considering Mr. Majjagi’s plea, HESCOM authorities have written to the KPTCL seeking action against all involved. “My only plea is that action taken by the State government through KPTCL should send a strong message to all, so that nobody resorts to such attempts. They should note that the false allegation had an adverse impact on Mr. Takkalaki’s health (he had health problems) and he subsequently passed away. Who will compensate his family?” Mr. Majjagi told The Hindu .

Ms. Sindhu was unavailable for comment.