A woman IAS officer of Haryana cadre has accused a senior civil servant from the State of sexually harassing her.
The woman, an officer of the 2014 batch, said in a Facebook post on Sunday that the senior officer would make her stay late at work — until 7 or 8 pm, make unwanted advances, and even tried to threaten her for writing adverse comments on official file.
Her senior, however, rubbished the allegations and claimed that the woman officer had been advised not to find faults with the files which have got all necessary clearances from other officials.
The woman has also accused another senior woman IAS officer of warning her against formally lodging a complaint for sexual harassment.
In her Facebook post, the 28-year old woman IAS officer alleged, “The superior officer questioned me why I write on files the wrong things the department has done.”
The senior officer allegedly threatened to file a complaint and “spoil her Annual Confidential Report (ACR) if she did not stop writing adverse comments on the official files”.
“The senior officer summoned me on May 31 and instructed his staff that no other person should enter the room. He asked me to tell what type of work I wanted to do, whether I want departmental work or time-pass work... And then he asked me to stop writing adverse comments on the files,” the Facebook post reads.
“He told me that like a newly-wed bride, she has to be explained everything, and he was explaining to me in the same manner. His behaviour seemed immoral,” she alleged.
On June 6, the senior officer called her in his office at 5 pm and asked her to stay there till 7.39 pm, she claimed. “I was sitting on the other side of the table in front of him. He asked me to get up and come closer to his chair. When I reached the other side of the table, he pretended to teach me how to operate a computer. I rushed back to my chair... After some time, he got up. Pretending to find a paper, he came close to my chair and pushed it,” she wrote.
Another senior woman officer has given me verbal orders that I do not submit any complaint in writing in this regard, she claimed.
She also wrote that her police security had been withdrawn and that she had sent an e-mail to the office of President of India with regard to the entire incident.
Denying the allegations, her superior said, “I have always tried to ensure that someone was present in my office while she was there. I don't think that she was alone in my office, barring for a few minutes on a couple of occasion.”
He claimed that in fact, he had gone out of his way to help her after she was posted in the department he is heading.
However, the woman officer rebutted the claims made by her superior and said, “Whatever he is saying in his defence is not correct. I have given full details in my Facebook post... let the CCTV footage be examined.”
Commenting on the issue, Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister OP Dhankar, while talking to the mediapersons said that the matter is serious and would be probed by Chief Secretary.
Recently, a Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officer, posted in the Education Department at Panchkula near here, was booked for allegedly sexually harassing a woman employee.