A lawyer was arrested by the Delhi Police earlier this month for molesting and harassing a woman journalist inside the Supreme Court premises.
The 32-year-old accused, Pranay Kumar, was arrested on Monday, 3 September after an FIR under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against him.
While speaking to Bar & Bench, the complainant recounted that the accused allegedly molested her on two occasions, both inside the Supreme Court premises.
The first instance occurred on 12 July in the corridor of the Supreme Court, right outside Chief Justice’s Court while the second incident, on 27 July, was inside Court No. 3 while the Court was in session.
After the second incident, the complainant approached the Assistant Commissioner of Police stationed at the Supreme Court, the office of the Registrar of Security in Supreme Court and the Sexual Harassment Cell at the Supreme Court in an attempt to initiate action against the accused.
Subsequently, the complainant was able to file a written complaint against the accused at the Tilak Marg Police Station late on 27 July which detailed her ordeal comprehensively.
The Tilak Marg Police Station registered an FIR against the accused charging him under Section 354 of the IPC which related to sexual harassment and outraging the modesty of a woman on 14 August. The arrest was made on 3 September.
On why it took over a month after submitting a written complaint to arrest the accused, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), Madhur Verma told Bar & Bench:
“On the basis of the complaint of the journalist, we booked the offender, we investigated, and recorded statements of the witnesses and got a statement recorded under Section 164 (of the Code of Criminal Procedure) also and thereafter arrested the accused.
In these kinds of cases, till the time we do not verify from the witnesses… and the statement to the Magistrate is also required. And despite issuing notices, the accused was not joining so it took some time to arrest.”
This is the second time in less than a month when an instance of sexual harassment inside the top court of the country has surfaced.
Less than a month ago, a young woman lawyer had taken to Twitter to speak out about a law clerk who sexually harassed her.
Security of women is a concern even spoken about by one of the sitting Supreme Court judges, Justice DY Chandrachud recently.
(This article was first published on Bar and Bench and has been republished by The Quint with permission.)
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