Sexually harassed woman moves Odisha women’s panel

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Sep 8:

A 21-year-old girl from Angul district of Odisha today knocked on the doors of the State Commission for Woman (SCW) here accusing her former senior of sexual harassment while she was working as a security guard at an industrial plant there.

In her complaint lodged with the SCW, the victim, the daughter of a taxi driver, said she was constantly harassed by Ajit Singh, the security officer-in-charge of the company, since she joined as a security guard in June 2011.

Few months after her joining,  used to give her indecent proposals and make sexually explicit gestures. The accused used to call her to his cabin with the help of another senior security officer and asked her to spend time with him, she added.

“Singh used to tell me that if I wanted to work and make my career, I had to give him ‘something’ as it was the service rule. He said most of the female security guards at the company had done it to preserve their jobs,” said the girl.

When the victim refused the proposal of the accused, she was allegedly forced to quit her job by him.

The victim further said the accused made it impossible for her to work there leaving her with no option but to quit her job in March 2013.

The victim’s father said, “Though we lodged an FIR at the local police station and informed the local administration, it went in vain as nobody bothered to listen to our complaint.”

The father also alleged that the local administration is under the control of the accused and they would not take any action against him.

“So today we lodged a complaint at the Mahila Commission here hoping to get justice from it,” he added.