Ex chief secy crosses woman'spath in pool, DCW raps club

New Delhi: The Delhi Commission for Women has sent a stern notice to Panchshila Club on its handling of a harassment complaint by a woman member against its president, Omesh Saigal, former chief secretary of Delhi. The complaint sent to the honorary secretary of the club, Col B M Baweja, says that "prima facie, a cognisable offence is revealed in the complaint and the complaint has been forwarded to the concerned SHO for registration of an FIR."
"We have received the complaint and will investigate the matter and register an FIR," Nupur Prasad, additional DCP, south, told TOI on Friday.The complaint has been sent to the Hauz Khas police station.
In her initial complaint against Saigal in the club's register, the woman member had alleged that while swimming in the club's pool, Saigal would frequently change lanes and bump into her, causing her acute harassment. Speaking to TOI, she said: "Saigal and I had the same time for using the pool and he would frequently keep changing lanes and coming into my space. On June 18, half the pool was under the sun and I was swimming in a lane that was in the shade. Saigal was in the lane next to mine. At one point, as he is prone to doing, he swerved into my lane. I asked him politely to move to his side at which he aggressively told me to shift to the sunny side of the pool. Thereafter, he tried intimidating me in various ways. I tried looking for committee members to report the matter to, but when I found no one, I wrote a complaint in the club register," she said.
The matter was taken up by the managing committee of the club the next day, which formed a sub-committee comprising of three women members to look into the complaint. The complainant said she was given less than 24 hours to appear before it and that one of the members called her and said she was alone in her fight. "After this, I had no faith in the committee and did not appear before it. It took comments from lifeguards etc and forwarded the report to the managing committee which has suspended me and my husband from the club," she said.
TOI spoke to Saigal who gave a slightly different version. "The lady insisted that I move to the sunny side of the pool and I asked her to shift instead if she had a problem with men and women swimming in the same pool. At this, she got annoyed and registered a complaint against me in the club register besides sending committee members individual letters. There is no mention of any sexual harassment of any kind. Therefore, a sub-committee was formed to look into her complaint but she did not appear before it. She also challenged the authority of the managing committee to investigate the matter and was, therefore, suspended. I have already sent her a defamation notice," he told TOI.
When Baweja was contacted by TOI on the DCW notice, he said he was out of town and had not received any notice. The phone got disconnected before he could respond to questions on the complaint and was subsequently found switched off.
In the notice to the club, DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal faulted the manner in which the complaint was handled by the club. "Instead of forwarding the complaint to the local complaints committee under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, 2013, the complaint was heard by a sub-committee set up by the management committee of the club. Also, subsequently, in blatant disregard of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, 2013, the club memberships of the complainant and her husband were suspended," the notice says.
The notice has asked for reasons for not forwarding the complaint to the local complaints committee and for suspending the complainant and her husband from the club. It has also asked whether an internal complaints committee has been set up in the club under the 2013 act and details of its members besides the steps the club has taken to ensure safety of women during swimming.