Top cop accused of harassment31 Dec 2007

Top cop accused of harassment31 Dec 2007, 0220 hrs IST,Neel Kamal,TNN

SANGRUR: Balwant Kaur, a resident of Barundi village in Sangrur, has approached the district police chief with a complaint against a senior police officer, alleging that she was sexually harassed by the cop, who was reportedly inquiring into a case of maltreatment of the woman by her in-laws and husband. Exasperated, Kaur, a postgraduate, has given an ultimatum that in case the police failed to take action against her in-laws and the officer by January 15, she would expose the “guilty police officer”. Kaur was married to Gurpreet Singh of Sandaur four years ago, while her mother, sisters and brother left for Canada a year back. Soon after, her in-laws allegedly started pressuring her to get money from her mother, which she did on some occasions. Later, Kaur alleged that her in-laws expected her mother to help Gurpreet Singh migrate to Canada. Kaur, in a press conference, claimed that when she failed to facilitate her husband’s immigration to Canada, her in-laws started beating her up regularly. "On August 22, I took the matter to police post Sandaur but their inaction made me approach SSP Sangrur on October 12 and an enquiry was marked," said Kaur, who was made to return to her in-laws’ place with the assurance that they would not harass her anymore, she claimed. However, the torture only increased after police intervention, Kaur added. On December 5, she again complained to the police, accusing her in-laws of trying to kill her by beating her so severely that she was admitted to civil hospital, Malerkotla. The police registered a case under sections 324, 323, 498, 34 of IPC against her husband, mother-in-law Manjit Kaur and sister-in-law Gagandeep. "Justice was denied to me as no arrest was made and my in-laws threatened me with dire consequences," said Kaur, accusing the investigating police officer of harassing her by sending vulgar messages and favouring her in-laws. "If the police do not arrest my in-laws and take action against the guilty police officer, I will approach higher authorities and unmask the officer," said Kaur. Informing that the enquiry officer in Kaur’s case had been changed and a CIA staff was asked to take over and make arrests if necessary, SSP Arunpal Singh said, "About the police officer accused of sending vulgar messages, the matter will be investigated if Kaur gives the complaint in writing. If any police officer is found guilty, appropriate action will be taken."

bellyad.innerHTML = b2;