Harassment row: Kerala ready for detailed probe

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the government would go for a detailed probe into sexual and physical harassment allegations in excise department if required even as the excise minister T. P. Ramakrishnan expressed doubts over the genuineness of the complaints. Kerala State Human Rights Commission had recently sought a report from excise commissioner Rishiraj Singh on an anonymous mass petition of women excise employees it had received.

The letter contained complaints about sexual harassment by senior male officers and drunken behaviour by superiors. It also mentioned about the lack of facilities such as toilets and the changing rooms  for women. Excise commissioner has now sought reports from divisional commissioners on these allegations. Replying to the submission of opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala in the Assembly on the matter on Thursday, the chief minister said the demand for a detailed probe by an officer outside the excise department would be considered after reviewing the report of Mr Singh.

Meanwhile, the excise minister said that he, as well as the commissioner, had interacted with many women officials but no one had ever raised such complaints.  Only one specific instance of harassment was pointed out in the anonymous petition, which was an old issue in which action was already taken against officials. In the wake of a complaint raising serious allegations of sexual and mental harassment, the excise department would set up complaint boxes in all the excise offices for staff and the public to drop complaints guarding their identity. Similar complaint boxes would be installed at LSGs also, said the minister.