Show-cause to steno for speaking to press

FARIDABAD, Jan 16: The deputy commissioner of Faridabad has issued a show cause notice to a woman employee working as a steno in the office ...

FARIDABAD, Jan 16: The deputy commissioner of Faridabad has issued a show cause notice to a woman employee working as a steno in the office of the sub-divisional officer in Palwal for informing the press about her alleged molestation `without prior permission of the officer concerned.’

The woman who till December 29 was working as a steno in the office of the district development and panchayat officer had registered a case on December 31 at the central police station alleging molestation by Jagbir Singh Dagar, an assistant working in the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) B.K.Panigrahi.

The show cause notice numbered 23, dated January 9, issued by the DC has asked her to explain within seven days of the issuance of the letter why she got a `false’ report of the incident published in the newspapers.

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The notice states: “The said news item published in Express Newsline and other local and national dailies is concocted, baseless and without any truth… that you have violated the section 8 and 9 of theGovernment Servant Conduct Act, 1996 by getting the story published in the newspapers without prior permission of the officer concerned.”

“ Your conduct has lowered the dignity of the office and you are guilty of this. Consequently disciplinary or punishable actions are inevitable against you.”

Earlier speaking to Express Newsline the woman had alleged that though she was molested in the afternoon of December 23 and had given a written complaint of the incident to the central police station on December 24, the case no 1655/97 under sections 354 and 506 of Indian Penal Code was registered on December 31, eight days after the incident.

The delay in the registration of the case, the woman claimed, was due to pressure from the DC. The local police was reluctant to register any case against the accused.

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However, DC B.K.Panigrahi when contacted by Express Newsline had categorically denied this and said that it was he who had the case registered with the police.

Meanwhile, a police official saida case was registered against Jagbir Singh Dagar after a police inquiry found merit in the woman’s complaint.

Meanwhile, the woman has said she fears for her safety as she has been receiving threatening phone calls asking for withdrawal of the case. “The man who had brought the show cause notice few days back from the DC’s Camp Office to my house threatened me, he asked me to deny the statements given to the press,” she said.

“Why don’t you file a defamation case against the journalists who have published a story using your name against the DC saheb, the man had asked me,” the woman said, adding “I replied that when the truth was coming out in the newspapers why should I deny or file a case of defamation.”