Patna Police launch probe into SHO misbehaving with woman

A day after a female staff at the Secretariat in Patna was reportedly humiliated by the SHO of Sachivalaya (Secretariat) police station, SSP Manavjeet Singh Dhillon on Tuesday constituted a committee headed by ASP Kamya Mishra to investigate the incident.

A purported video of the incident has gone viral on social media in which SHO C.P. Gupta could be seen threatening to put the woman behind bars. He further threatened her to call her father if she wanted, and he would take him on as well.

The complainant, an employee with the Secretariat, had gone to the Sachivalaya police station on Monday evening to register an FIR against unknown persons who had snatched her mobile phone from near the gate of her office.

"I was standing near the gate of my office when some bike-borne snatchers took away my mobile phone. My colleagues suggested me to file a complaint with the concerned police station. Accordingly, we went there and submitted a written complaint before the SHO. When I demanded an acknowledgement for my complaint, the SHO suddenly became angry with me and my friends," said Kanchan Kumari, the complainant.

"He not only denied to give me an acknowledgement, but also threatened that he would put me in the lock-up. Luckily, my friends made a video of the entire incident. His behaviour was not only rude, but outrageous as well. I was the victim but the SHO treated me like an accused, which is completely unacceptable," she said.

Her friend Preeti Kumari, who is also an employee with the Secretariat, said: "Chief minister Nitish Kumar talks about women's empowerment in Bihar. But how can we get empowered if the police threaten us like this? The Chief minister should understand the mental trauma we went through at the police station. If government employees like us are not safe in the state, how could we expect common people to feel safe here?"

"We have constituted a team led by an ASP rank officer to investigate the matter. Based on the findings of the report, we will take action against the alleged officer," said Manavjeet Singh Dhillon, SSP, Patna.