IIT-Madras Research Scholar Sexually Assaulted, Chennai Police Arrest Prime Accused From Kolkata

Chennai police arrested an IIT-Madras research scholar Kingshuk Debsharma, the main accused in a sexual harassment case. Debsharma is one of the eight incriminated in the case from IIT Madras, who was arrested after his co-scholar, a 30-year-old Dalit woman, filed a sexual harassment case against him and the rest of the seven men.

The accused, who is currently being held by the authorities at the Diamond Harbour police station in Kolkata, will be brought before a local magistrate before being transferred to Chennai, as reported by The Indian Express.

According to the victim's complaint, she was sexually and mentally harassed between 2016 and 2020. For four consecutive years, the victim suffered heinous crimes, including rape, sexual harassment, mental trauma, threats from her co-scholars.

First Complaint Registered in 2020

After suffering from heinous crimes for four years, the victim finally registered a complaint against the eight accused men in 2020. However, the police only filed the first information report (FIR) three months after the first complaint was lodged; until then, no actions have been taken against them.

The complaint registered by the victim described how terror-stricken exploitation happened to her, the complaint marked rape, sexual harassment, threats, emotional manipulation, and psychological abuse shattered her.

The report included how she was sexually abused in Coorg in 2018 while on tour with her co-scholars, not just that the victim's complaint gave a shiver when she stated that the co-scholars forcefully undressed her on the campus premises lab.

Charges Against Accused

As reported by the publication, the FIR was filed against the eight accused men compromises Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 354 (assault or criminal force against a woman with the intent to rage her modesty), 354B (assault or use of unlawful force against a woman with the sense to disrobe), 354C (voyeurism), and 506(1) (punishment for criminal intimidation).

Police Negligence Repercussions

However, the police are now encountering charges for failing to file the FIR with rape charges and sections under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

According to media reports, police officers claimed they were unaware the survivor was a Dalit and thus did not invoke the SC/ST Act. The decision not to include rape was also based on legal advice, as per the media.

Following the victim's complaint before she approached the police for the sexual harassment, the Complaint Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CCASH) at IIT Madras issued an interim report that found Debsharma and three others guilty. The CCASH discovered that Debsharma had verbally and physically abused the victim twice and that three others had aided him in his crimes. It had also barred the accused from entering until her thesis was submitted, citing the victim's vulnerable state, as per the publication.

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