The police officer who had reportedly misbehaved and assaulted the Canara Bank female employee in its Saroli branch on Monday has now been suspended and also arrested, reports ANI. A case was registered at Puna police station in Surat on Tuesday under Indian Penal Code Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), a police official said.
The investigation was initiated after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had taken to Twitter to promise strict action against the police constable who had assaulted a female staff after the Bank Employees’ Association had requested the Finance Minister to take cognisance of the issue. According to reports, soon after, Sitharaman had brought the incident to the notice of Commissioner of Police.
“Following Sitharaman’s intervention, the perpetrator who turned out to be a policeman has been suspended and an investigation is underway,” said Police Inspector, V U Gaderiya.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the incident, the National Commission for Women (NCW) Wednesday also asked the Gujarat Police to take strict action against the police officer who treated and assaulted the Canara bank employee.
In a viral video, a person was seen first arguing and then assaulting a bank employee. Later, media reports stated that the incident was from Surat where a police official had misbehaved and assaulted bank officials.
As per reports, the incident had occurred on Monday, where a female employee was attacked in the Saroli branch of Canara Bank (formerly Syndicate Bank). The incident had sparked widespread outrage.
Lady bank officer assaulted over passbook printing after customer services hours
As per reports, two men had entered the bank premises after working hours at around 4:20 PM to get their passbook updates and asked the female clerk to do the same. When she informed them that the printer was not working and customer services are only till 4:00 PM, they started abusing her and another staff member present at the scene.
After arguing for a while, one of them entered the cubicle and attacked a female clerk who was recording the whole incident at that time. The whole incident was recorded on the bank’s CCTV footage.
The attack was so intense that she fell on the floor and got injured. The staff informed the nearest police station immediately. An FIR was registered against unknown persons.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised strict action against police constable
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has promised in a tweet that there will be strict action against the police constable who had assaulted a female staff, Santoshi Kumari, in the Saroli branch of the Syndicate Bank. She added in her tweet that she had a word with Dhaval Patel (Collector, Surat) who has promised timely action.
In her tweets, the finance minister mentioned that her office spoke to Commissioner of Police, IPS Bhrambhatt, who will visit the branch and assure the safety of the staff members. He also assured that the accused constable shall be suspended immediately.
