Our Staff Reporter
The National Commission for Women in New Delhi has closed the sexual harassment case filed by an actress against senior Indian-American journalist, Dr. Prakash M Swamy on the basis of a report submitted by the Greater Chennai Police Department.
The Chennai Police has informed the Commission that it had closed the case against the scribe for want of evidence. The complainant failed to produce any proof of her alleged complaint. The case drew media attention nationally and globally, as the scribe is well known both in India and in the US. The veteran journalist of 40 years standing had also served as a diplomatic correspondent at the United Nations for over a decade.
According to a senior police officer in Chennai, the case is nothing but a Facebook fight where both parties had traded charges and accusations against each other. The scribe was probing the alleged murder of the actress’s husband. To seek revenge and to stop him from investigating the case, the actress had filed a false sexual harassment complaint that the scribe had visited her house and tried to molest her.
In her social media posts, she wept and cried for help to punish the journalist and went on to claim that the harassment continued via phone and internet and that the journalist started sending her derogatory messages via Whatsapp, threatening to defame her.
The Chennai Commissioner of Police, who directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Mylapore) to investigate the case, has stated in his final report sent to the Commission in Delhi that the police conducted a thorough inquiry in the apartment complex where the actress lived and interrogated the neighbors of the complainant. It emerged that the apartment complex has a modern security system whereby outsiders can’t access without the residents’ permission. The actress had failed to produce any evidence of the alleged incident, the report said.
The scribe had earlier demanded CCTV footage of the apartment complex on the dates the actress alleged and also the guest register at the complex gate maintained by the security staff in support of her case but she could not produce any credible evidence to prove her claim to him or to the police.
Swamy gave a complaint to Cyber Crime Police in Police Commissioner’s Office on 28 June 2018 against Gayatri Sainath and three others following continues “digital terrorist attack” on him. The police summoned her and her friends on 29 June 2018. The police conducted an inquiry and found that she had falsely accused the scribe.
The cops warned her and friends not to repeat the mistake and let them go. As a counterblast, she filed a false complaint to the Adyar All Women’s Police Station on 30 June 2018 alleging sexual torture in October 2016, two years ago. The case was transferred to Cyber Crime only to be closed (MF) for lack of evidence and credibility. Sexual torture was not explained or backed up by evidence. It was a mere propaganda full of lies, police said.
In her fresh complaint to the Royapettah All Women’s Police Station on 15 November 2018 Gayatri Sainath had alleged the same torture story but did not say “what kind of torture” and was vague again. She also complained to the National Commission for Women and the case was forwarded to Royapettah Station Police for inquiry. They found no truth in the second complaint also. Meanwhile, Gayatri Sainath continued her cyber war against him in the social media.
She had mentioned four different dates of the alleged molestation in four sworn affidavits to the court and the police. In her undated handwritten statement given to Royapettah All Women’s Police Station and recorded by the Police on 27 June 2019 following a court direction from 18th Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Saidapet, she has stated the alleged crime occurred on 30 July 2018 at 5 PM forgetting she had given a handwritten complaint at Adyar police station at 9 am on 30 July 2018 the same day eight hours ahead of the alleged crime time.
Subsequently, Gayatri Sainath changed the date of crime of the alleged molestation several times. In her Criminal Miscellaneous Petition filed before the High Court she has mentioned the date of alleged occurrence as 30 June 2018 at 5 PM stating that there was a typing error in her earlier statement at Royapettah AWPS forgetting that she filed a complaint at 9 AM. In her handwritten reply on 11 October 2018 Gayatri Sainath stated that the scribe had entered her house on October 2016.
Dr Swamy is now planning to file a criminal defamation lawsuit against her for perjury and continuing vilification campaign and defamatory remarks in social media painting him as a sex offender.
