After our 13-year-old daughter disclosed that she had been sexually harassed (forcibly hugged and kissed) by an acquaintance, a college student, we visited the police station to give a complaint.
Two women constables made preliminary enquiries with my wife and child, with the Inspector joining them a short while later. The Inspector and a constable then further interviewed the child in another room without my wife present, concluding no serious action was warranted but the harasser would be warned.
On further investigation, they said, if action was necessary they would proceed as per the law. However, no acknowledgment of the complaint letter was given. I learnt later that the POCSO Act, which has provision for our daughter’s harassment as an offense, does not allow for warnings. In fact there is a clause which states that if police don’t record a complaint, a case can be filed against them.
