Goa police seeks details on IFFI sexual harassment case

Panaji: Goa police today sought details from International Film Festival of India (IFFI) organisers regarding the sexual harassment complaint filed by a Delhi-based student working as a programmer against a senior festival official here.

"We have asked local police to inquire into the complaint. They will get details from the IFFI organisers," DIG O P Mishra told reporters here. The DIG said that the police will meet Director of Film Festival Shankar Mohan and get details of the complaint by the 25-year-old JNU student.

The complaint by the girl, which is lodged with Mohan, accused a senior festival officer of the rank of Deputy Director of making lewd suggestions in the form of indirectly asking for sexual favours.

Now, JNU student complains of sexual harassment at IFFI

The girl was in Goa at the IFFI venue on an assignment to assist the Soul of Asia and World Cinema sections. "On the night of November 16, 2013, lewd suggestions were made by the said person in the form of indirectly asking for sexual favours," says the complaint lodged on November 17.

"As a result of the incident, I feel harassed and highly offended. Hence, I would like to report this matter under The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013," she said.

Sources said that the IFFI Secretariat has already asked the accused officer to return to Delhi pending orders against him. Following the complaint, the IFFI directorate had formed a three member committee comprising Nirupama Kotru, director (films) with Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry and two more women officials associated with the film festival.

The panel has given several recommendations to the organisers to have better working atmosphere for women staffers. The victim, who said that she felt deeply traumatised by the event, informed her family in Delhi who asked her to return home. She left Goa on Monday.