'Misbehaving' IAS officer held

IAS officer Shashi Bhushan, who is special secretary (technical education) with the UP government, was arrested on Monday on the charge of trying to outrage the modesty of a woman on a Lucknow-bound train.

The officer who was later produced before a railway court was remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody.

The government has suspended him.
The officer allegedly misbehaved with the woman who is an executive with a prestigious IT firm in Delhi and was traveling on the AC coach of Lucknow Mail train with her mother on Sunday night. “He misbehaved with the woman throughout the night besides trying to rape her,” according to the police here.  The mother-daughter duo had boarded the train at Ghaziabad.

The victim in her complaint alleged that the officer tried to outrage her modesty when her mother had gone to the toilet. “When confronted by my mother on her return, he offered an apology and requested me not to press charges,” she said.

Bhushan slipped away to some other coach as the train neared Lucknow in the morning in a bid to avoid being caught by the railway police who had reached there upon being informed by the woman. The cops managed to trace him. He was brought to the GRP post after the train arrived at Charbagh (Lucknow) railway station.

Sources said Inspector Anil Rai initially tried to force the victim not to lodge a written complaint but when she insisted, an FIR was filed but under lighter sections, including Section 354 of the IPC, which was bailable. However, after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav expressed serious displeasure over the leniency being shown to Bhushan the inspector was suspended and Section 376/511 (attempt to rape), which was non-bailable, was added.

Bhushan, however, denied the allegations and alleged that the altercation had started, when the woman passed “casteist” remark on him.