Headlines
Senior Goa journalist booked for sexual harassment
Panaji, Sep 25
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.