Calcutta HC stalls probe against Raj Bhavan staffer in sexual harassment case against WB governor

The Calcutta High Court on Friday stayed the proceedings in a first information report lodged against Officer on Special Duty to the Governor of West Bengal Sandeep Singh for allegedly stopping a woman from filing a police complaint of sexual harassment against Governor CV Ananda Bose, reported Bar and Bench.

The complainant, a 29-year-old contractual employee at Kolkata’s Raj Bhavan, had accused Bose of inappropriately touching her on April 24 and on May 2. She wrote a complaint letter to Raj Bhavan’s officer in charge on the day of the second incident.

The single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha observed that Singh had already been granted bail in the case, registered against him by the Kolkata Police, and that the investigation against him was in its preliminary stages.

Sinha noted that Singh, along with other staff members, had allegedly locked the woman in a room on the West Bengal Raj Bhavan premises in Kolkata. According to the woman’s complaint, they allegedly threatened her against sharing details of the alleged sexual harassment with any authority or lodging a complaint against the governor.

“Whether the ingredients disclosed in the complaint can be treated as wrongful restraint will be decided,” Sinha said in the Friday order. “At this stage, it does not appear that the probe will suffer...

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