Ramakanta Biswas

Kendrapara: A woman employee of Kendrapara Credit Cooperative Society has brought allegations of workplace harassment against the society president Pramod Kumar Sahu and also accused police of inaction in the case.

According to sources, six months have elapsed since the woman had filed a case against Sahu at Kendrapara Town Police Station and later she had even moved the SDJM court. However, as per allegations, no action has been taken against the accused so far.

The complainant alleged that Sahu repeatedly harassed her while she was working at the cooperative society and said the police are shielding the accused.

“I joined the Credit Cooperative Society on August 25, 2017. While everything was fine initially, he started harassing me from 2018. He used to call me to his chamber and touch me inappropriately. He also tried to lure me with gifts, money and promotion,” the complainant said.

“He also invited me to his farmhouse where he forced me to maintain physical relationship with him. When I resisted his advances, he threatened to transfer me to a far-off place. He even threatened to rape and murder me,” the complainant added.

The complainant further said that although she met the district superintendent of police (SP) and moved the State women commission, no action has been taken against the accused.

“Finally I was forced to tender my resignation on June 12, 2019 fearing threat to my life. However, without accepting my resignation, they terminated me,” she added.

On the other hand, the secretary of the cooperative society dismissed the allegations. “The allegations of the woman are false and baseless. The president is posted at the cooperative society for the last 20 years and many women are working here. However, no one ever levelled such allegations against him,” he said.

“We had transferred 28 employees including the woman. A day later, the woman, her mother and a suspended employee created ruckus in the president’s chamber. The woman had threatened to implicate the president in false rape case. We had lodged a complaint at Town Police Station and SDJM court in this regard,” he added.

Kendrapara SP Niti Sekhar said, “A case was registered at Town Police station in this regard. According to the complaint, the accused had some questionable telephonic conversation with the complainant. He also sent text messages through Facebook messenger. We will collect data from Facebook and voice sample will be sent for laboratory test. After the test reports come, we will take further action.”

He further said a counter complaint has also been registered against the complainant for allegedly creating nuisance in the office. “An officer of additional SP rank has been asked to supervise the case,” he added.

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