Sexual Harassment Case Against Bengal Governor: Petitioner Moves Supreme Court (image:x.com/BengalGovernor)
A woman staff member of the West Bengal Raj Bhawan, who raised sexual harassment allegations against Governor CV Ananda Bose has moved to the Supreme Court challenging the immunity granted to the Governor under Article 361 of the Constitution.
The petitioner employee urged direction from the top court regarding a detailed investigation into the case by West Bengal police and also appealed for the guidelines to be formulated with respect to the blanket immunity enjoyed by the Governors.
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It held that a civil suit against the Governor of a State can be instituted after serving a two months notice, but no such duration is prescribed for criminal proceedings, which leaves the petitioner without any remedy.
The petitioner argued that the object of Article 361 cannot be to impair the power of the police in such situations.
The victim in her complaint stated that the Governor had called her on April 24 and May 2 on the false pretext of offering a better job only to sexually harass within the premises of Raj Bhavan during working hours, the Bar and Bench reports.
The plea has pointed that the Governor who under the garb of discharging his official duties, conducts himself in a deplorable manner. It also stressed as governor who able to give statements in media dismisses the allegations as an “engineered narrative,” leaving the victim rendered voiceless and shunned to a life of depravity and ridicule.
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The petitioner also requested that she be provided protection by the State and be compensated as well for the trauma suffered by her.
The plea which was submitted on Wednesday before the Supreme Court possibly to come up for hearing in a week or so.
The Calcutta High Court in May stayed the proceedings against the Officer on Special Duty (OSD-II) to the Governor. The officer was booked for allegedly restraining the victim and pressurising her to refrain from lodging any complaint of sexual harassment against the Governor.
