Woman raped by Crime Branch Inspector in lieu of helping her jailed husband; NHRC takes suo motu cognizance

The National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday took suo motu cognizance of a report that a crime branch Inspector raped a woman in lieu of helping her jailed husband in Palwal, Haryana. The report must also contain the statics for last one year regarding such complaints about sexual harassment of women at workplace including third party harassment by the public servant, the statement read. The Director General of Police has to submit a report including the action taken report regarding reasons for failure of the institutional mechanism within the Haryana Police for not adhering to the guidelines formulated in Viaskhas’s case as well as inability to initiate enquiry under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013. The Commission also asked the Member-Secretary, State Legal Services Authority, Haryana to send a report within eight weeks after examining the case of prolong incarceration of the husband of the victim woman in Neemka jail and to ensure that the accused be provided with free legal aid counsel before the jurisdictional court so that he may be represented adequately in the case, for which he is an undertrial prisoner, if not already released on bail.