Sexual assault on PhD scholar at IIT-Madras: Main accused arrested in Bengal under SC/ST Act
CHENNAI: In a case relating to a complaint of sexual assault by an IIT scholar two years ago, a 30-year-old man was arrested by a special team of the Chennai police in West Bengal.
The accused, Kingshuk Debsharma, was detained at Diamond Harbour police station on Sunday night and will be produced before the local magistrate on Monday to obtain a transit warrant. He will be brought to Chennai for inquiry, said sources.
The all-women police recently received a fresh complaint from the victim to book the accused under SC/ST Act as the FIR earlier registered on her complaint was gathering dust for about six months. The All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) had recently sought a CB-CID probe into the case of sexual assault, citing irregularities and delay in the investigation by the city police.
The association has complained that though the victim has mentioned about the sexual assault by the accused, her co-scholars, in her complaint lodged in March 2020, the FIR which was filed months later, did not include the sections for rape and SC/ST Act despite the victim being a Dalit.
Kingshuk Debsharma is one of the eight accused in the case, the others being Subadheep Banarjee, Malay Krishna Mahato, Raveendran, Edamana Prasad, Narayan Patra, Sourav Dutta and Ayan Battacharya. Police sources said that the accused had dropped out of the institution and left Chennai during the pandemic.
In her complaint, the victim had stated that she was physically and mentally harassed by her colleague Kingshuk Debsharma ever since she joined the institution in 2016, while others played a role to physically and mentally harass her.
She has also stated that she was sexually abused in Coorg in 2018 when they went on a tour and disrobed and filmed in her lab in the campus.
Meanwhile, the Chennai city police have appointed Kotturpuram Assistant Commissioner of Police Subramanian as the investigation officer in the case after the association sought action on the inspector concerned for delaying the investigation.