"we have to use his services.”
A senior Indian police officer has received a promotion despite having charges against him for sexually assaulting a teenager.
Gaurav Upadhyay was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for allegedly assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
The charge came after the girl’s mother registered a complaint at Assam’s Guwahati city.
The mother is also a police officer alongside Upadhyay.
However, instead of facing discipline, the police officer was transferred to a senior position at a district in northeast Assam.
The incident took place on December 31, 2020, at a party at Upadhyay’s residence when he was a police superintendent at Karbi Anglong.
According to the charge sheet, the sexual assault left the teenager with “severe psychological trauma”.
The case was registered in January 2021 and was being probed by the Assam Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The documents were submitted to a local court.
Speaking to Hindustan Times about the allegations, CID deputy superintendent Pradip Kumar Das said:
“The charge sheet was filed after investigation and evidence revealed [Gaurav] Upadhyay’s involvement in the case.
“The allegations against him have been established.”
Upadhyay was charged in March 2021.
However, according to reports, the police officer was later transferred to Chirang district in May 2021.
This was part of mass transfers of police officers after the new government took office.
Upon his transfer, Upadhyay became a Superintendent, a more senior position, despite the charges.
According to Assam Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, the state home department issued the transfer order.
Mahanta said:
“If the court decides, he [the accused] will be arrested as per law.”
“Until the decision is given by the court, we have to use his services.”
Despite their duty of care, it is not uncommon for police officers to abuse their position of power.
Recently, a corrupt police officer from Essex received a jail sentence for helping an organised criminal gang steal money from other criminals.
Thirty-two-year-old Kashif Mahmood seized hundreds of thousands of pounds for a gang operating from Dubai.
The former Met Police officer dressed in uniform and used police cars to go to locations where “significant quantities of criminal cash” would be exchanged.
While pretending to carry out his duties, he would steal the money for the gang.
Mahmood was sentenced alongside brothers Moshin Khan, Shazad Khan and Shabaz Khan, Moshin Khan’s partner Maria Shah and Ioan Gherghel.
Loading ...