Sexual harassment case: Court pulls up cops for improper probe

New Delhi, May 28: Delhi Police has been pulled up by a court here for not conducting a proper probe in a sexual harassment case in which the accused youth has been acquitted as the FIR was lodged by pressurising the girl to depose against her lover.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pawan Kumar Jain said it appeared that the investigating officer was in a hurry to arrest the accused without any proper investigation and acting in such a casual manner is not good for the society.

Th court observed that arresting a person has serious consequences for the individual involved and causes intolerable trauma to him and the family and that statutory duty of police is to find out the truth into the allegations.

The court passed the judgement while acquitting Delhi resident Ankit Dubey of the charges of sexually harassing, stalking, wrongly confining and criminally intimidating a 18-year-old girl, with whom he was in love.

"...It becomes limpid that victim (girl) was in love with the accused (youth) and she intended to marry him. Accused and victim were willing to marry after eloping from their house," the court said, noting that their love affair continued even after lodging of the FIR last year.

The girl had lodged the FIR against the youth as she was being pressurised by her parents to do so, it said. It said as the police did not carry out a proper probe, the youth had to remain in jail for five days despite the fact that he had no fault.

"...it appears that investigating officer was in haste to arrest the accused without any proper investigation. Such type of approach is not good for the administration of criminal justice," the court said, adding that even though the girl had categorically stated that she made complaint under pressure, no investigation was done in this regard.

It said that statutory duty of police is to investigate the matter in accordance with law and to find out the truth. "If a person is arrested in such a casual manner, it will not be good for the society at large. Needless to say that whenever a person is arrested for an offence of moral turpitude, it has serious consequences as it becomes difficult for such a person to get a government job in future....

"Further, arrest even in a minor offence cause intolerable trauma not only to the accused but also to his family members...," the court said. According to the prosecution, on March 18, 2013, Dubey had misbehaved with the girl, a class X student, in the presence of other girls at a public place. He had also threatened her that if she did not follow his directions, he would kill her and her family members, it said.

PTI