Jharkhand: IAS officer suspended for sexually harassing IIT student

IAS officer Syed Riaz Ahmed was suspended by the Jharkhand government on Friday after he was arrested for sexually harassing an IIT aspirant.

Syed Riaz Ahmed was the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Khunti. He was arrested on July 5 and remanded in custody for two weeks after the engineering student filed a complaint against him.

Ahmed is charged under sections 354 (assault or force upon a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act with intent to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Penal Code, police said.

“Chief Minister Hemant Soren has ordered the suspension of Syed Riaz Ahmed, SDM Khunti. The SDM has been accused of sexual harassment,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

On July 5, a court ordered the officer to be remanded in custody for 14 days.

According to authorities, eight engineering students from an IIT, including the victim, had come to Khunti from outside the state for training.

They attended a dinner hosted at the residence of the Deputy Commissioner for Development on Saturday.

When the SDM found her alone at the party, he allegedly sexually harassed her, the victim said in a statement to the police.

An investigation is underway. Meanwhile, the Bhartiya Janata Party, expressing shock over the incident, took to the streets against Khunti’s now-arrested SDM Ahmed and demanded his immediate sacking as he has brought a bad name to Jharkhand. “This is shameful, disgusting and unimaginable… We demand the strictest action against the officer so that no other officer dares to stoop to such a level,” BJP state president and MP Deepak Prakash told the news agency. PTI.