Sexual harassment case settled secretly

Published On: December 19, 2021 12:20 PM NPT By: GANESH BISHU

BANKE, Dec 19: An alleged case of sexual harassment where Chief Administrative Officer of Banke’s Khajura Rural Municipality, Maniram Kharal and Pradip Sunar, Accounts Officer sexually abused their own female employee has been settled secretly. The case was settled after both the accused agreed to apologize for the sexual harassment when some youths demanded action against Kharal and Sunar.

Chief Administrative Officer Kharal and Accounts Officer Sunar were accused of sexually abusing the women employee while they were going to Tikapur in Kailali for a picnic. After that, some youths attacked Kharal and Sunar demanding action against them while Kharal and Sunar threatened to go to court.

According to a source, the woman employee, who is said to be the victim, was pressured not to file a written complaint and was forced to ‘resolve’ the case. Similarly, Chief Administrative Officer Kharal said that the allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against them were false.

“We were falsely accused,” Kharal said, “An agreement has been reached between the accusing party and us. However, we will go for a legal remedy as we have been assaulted on office premises, he said.

Similarly, Ek Maya BK, vice-chairperson of Khajura village, said that the issue was resolved after the alleged perpetrators apologized. “We understood and listened to the victim,” she said. “We had asked to file a complaint. But there was an agreement between the two sides.” She said that the alleged perpetrators had apologized and committed that they would not repeat such mistakes from now on.

Meanwhile, the police said that the accused perpetrators have been released as no written complaint has been lodged against them. "They were arrested after we received a verbal complaint," said Madhusudan Neupane, Deputy Superintendent of Police and Spokesperson for the District Police Office, Banke., adding, however, that they released the alleged perpetrators after 24 hours as there was no written complaint against them.”