SDM transferred after minor accuses him of molestation

An administrative officer has been transferred from his office after a 16-year-old girl accused him of molesting her in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Kharsiya region, A K Dhritlahre (55) has been shifted to the District Collectorate, Bilaspur Divisional Commissioner Sonmani Borah said.
The order in this regard was issued last night. He will be replaced by Bhaskar Singh Markam as the new SDM while no fresh department has been assigned to Dhritlahre.
The minor girl in her complaint had alleged that Dhritlahre molested her several times last month while she was working as maid at his official residence in Kharsiya.

The district administration has constituted a four-member joint team of administrative officers and police to probe the matter.
"A team led by Raigarh Joint Collector Priyanka Mahobia has been formed to probe the incident and submit a report in this connection within a week," Borah said.

Sub-Divisional Programmer Officer (Women and Child Development) Anita Agrawal and Joint Labour Commissioner UK Kashyap are the other members of the team.
As per the girl's complaint, when her parents stopped her from going to Dhritlahre's house after she narrated her ordeal to them, the officer lodged an alleged fake case of theft against her.

The girl has alleged that she was mentally and physically tortured by Kharsiya police during probe into the alleged theft and when they did not find any evidence against her, she was let off.
The investigating team has also been asked to probe the allegations of police atrocity on the girl by dragging her into the alleged fake theft case.
Meanwhile, Dhritlahre met Raigarh Collector and Superintendent of Police last evening.