Airline employee's sexual harassment complaint: HC seeks

The Delhi High Court has sought the city police's response on allegations of an Indian employee of SriLankan Airlines that a sexual harassment case lodged by her against her senior Lankan colleague is not being probed fairly.
Justice Pratibha Rani has issued notice to Delhi Police and sought a status report of the investigation carried out on the FIR lodged against the woman's senior colleague under section 509 (uttering any word insulting modesty of a woman) of the IPC.
The court has now listed the matter for further hearing on November 27.
It passed the order on the woman's petition for transfer of her case from Barakhamba Police Station, which is probing the matter, to the Crime Against Women cell in Nanakpura here.

The woman, a sales executive in the airline, in her petition filed through advocate Ajay Verma alleged that her senior colleague had in 2009 sexually harassed her, by way of inappropriate language and gestures, which she had reported to the management of the airlines.
Thereafter, the senior official had transferred her to the airline's Kochi office and while she was there, he used to continuously harass her by calling on her phone and abusing her, the petition alleged.

She has also claimed that the airline in December 2011 had assured her that it will look into the matter and had also appointed a committee to go into her complaint, but in March 2012 her complaint was rejected and in July 2013 she was informed that the whole matter is a closed subject.

Then she had written to the National Commission for Women which sent a letter to the Delhi Police commissioner to look into the matter, the plea said.
Subsequently, after conducting an enquiry into the allegations, the police had lodged an FIR under section 509 of IPC against her senior colleague, it said.