Woman says BMC officials harassed her, faces cross complaint

Indian Express: Mumbai: Thursday, January 25, 2018.

THE GHATKOPAR police on Tuesday registered an FIR against two Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials for allegedly outraging the modesty of a woman. The woman had gone to the BMC office at Ghatkopar to

inspect the files she had sought under the Right To Information (RTI), when the incident took place.

The police have also filed a counter complaint against the woman for obstructing a public servant from discharging his duty, based on the complaint given by the civic officials. No arrests have been made in either case as yet.

On Wednesday, employees of BMC protested outside Pant Nagar police station, demanding that FIR against the civic employees be taken back.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone 7) Akhilesh Singh said, “Two counter complaints have been registered at the Pant Nagar police station in Ghatkopar, based on the complaint given by both sides. Investigations are on to verify statements given by both sides.”

In the statement given by the woman to the police, she alleged that the incident happened when she went to the N ward office located in Ghatkopar on Tuesday afternoon. She had sought inspection of certain documents at the office under the RTI act.

“The woman and two civic officials had an argument over the fee amount that was to be paid. The two sides got into an argument. The woman later alleged that the two employees behaved with her in a manner that outraged her modesty,” said an officer from Pant Nagar police station. Eventually both sides came to the police station.

Employees at the ward office, however, alleged that the woman affiliated to a political party made frequent RTI applications for matters that did not concern her.

“They alleged that the woman had got into an argument with them over the fee amount and started abusing them and throwing paperwork around. Based on the statement given by them, we have registered a cross complaint against the woman on the charge of using force to deter a public servant from performing his duty,” said the officer.

The officer added that they have not made any arrests in the case. “We will be investigating the matter using the CCTV footage and statements of those present at the spot… we will decide the future course of action based on the report,” added the officer.