Senior Goa journalist booked for sexual harassment

Two women journalists here have filed a First Information Report (FIR) against a senior journalist for alleged sexual harassment, according to a senior police official.

Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch, Kartik Kashyap, told reporters that an FIR under section 354A (related to sexual harassment) has been registered at the Women's Police Station in Panaji.

According to the FIR, Rupesh Samant, Goa Bureau Chief of Press Trust of India (PTI) was accused of allegedly stalking the two victims, sending them vulgar messages via mobile phone and making sexual advances. This was done at Herald Cable Network, a local cable channel where the two journalists earlier worked.

Samant, according to information, also used to appear as a news anchor at the cable channel.

Samant was not reachable over the phone. The executive editor of PTI, V.S. Chandrasekar, at its head office in Delhi, told IANS that it "was a matter for the police to investigate."

The Goa Union of Journalists said in a statement that Goa police should take the case to its logical conclusion. It demanded that the investigation into the alleged sexual harassment should "be expedited, without fear or favour."

The state's journalists' body has also urged women victims to come forward if they have faced a similar situation at the workplace in media houses.

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, responding to reporters queries at a Ganesh festival event, said that his government took a very serious note of all crimes against women and that the law would take its own course.