Woman harassed, cites police apathy

SUBHASISH CHAUDHURI, TT, Kalyani, Dec. 11: A woman, who stays with her mother after being deserted by her husband, has said she is scared to leave the house in Nadia's Santipur as she was harassed by a youth for six months.

The woman, in a complaint lodged with the additional judicial magistrate of Ranaghat last week, said the friend of her husband had molested her several times and threatened to throw acid at her because she had spurned his advances.

The woman said she went to lodge a complaint with the police on June 28 but the police did not accept her complaint. The police, however, summoned the youth to the police station and warned him.

The 24-year-old woman said the youth continued to harass her and on August 6, she again went to the police station. This time, they mentioned the complaint in a general diary recording but did not start a case. The woman was also not given any GD number.

On November 10, the woman went a third time to the police but they allegedly did not accept any further complaint.

The woman said: "The youth would not have become so desperate if the police had arrested him earlier. They never took my complaint seriously.... In November, when I went to lodge my third complaint, the officer on duty at the police station told me that it is not his duty to ensure my security every time. I was dejected and returned home and remained confined to my home in fear. Earlier, I had lodged two complaints during June and August. But, police did not start a case."

The woman lodged a complaint with the additional chief judicial magistrate in Ranaghat on November 28. The court asked the police to start a case against the youth under Section 354 (assault of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 448 (house trespass), and 509 (indecent gesture or insult intended to outrage the modesty of a woman) of the IPC.

The woman's lawyer Hirak Jyoti Dhar said: "The court directed the Santipur police to start a case immediately."

Police arrested the accused youth in the first week of December, but he was granted bail the same day. The OC of Santipur, Parthapratim Roy said: "We arrested the youth but he was given bail."

The OC, however, declined to comment on why no case was started earlier.

The accused said the woman was "trying to implicate me with false charges".

The woman said: "As he (the youth) was my husband's friend, I knew him for a long time. But, he tried to take advantage of the situation and started harassing me and molested me."