Calcutta HC directs ex-Andaman chief secretary to appear before SIT over gang-rape charge

The SIT was constituted to probe allegations that a 21-year-old woman was lured to the chief secretary’s home and then raped by top officials there

The Calcutta High Court directed Jitendra Narain, a former chief secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to appear before a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing alleged gang-rape charges against him, by October 28, holding that the case requires immediate inquiry.

A vacation bench comprising justices Bibek Chaudhuri and Prasenjit Biswas granted interim protection against arrest to Narain till a date that will be fixed by the circuit bench of the Calcutta High Court in Port Blair on November 14 on its first date of sitting after the Puja vacation.

The SIT is probing an allegation by a woman that she was gang-raped by Narain and others on April 14 and May 1, on the basis of an FIR filed at Aberdeen Police Station in Port Blair on October 1.

Read | Woman accuses ex-Andaman Chief Secretary, Labour Commissioner of 'brutal' sexual assault: Report

The court also noted that Narain, who was transferred to Delhi on July 21, has declared that he is ready and willing to cooperate with the investigation.

Holding that the case requires immediate investigation, the court stated, "We direct the petitioner to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on a date/dates fixed by the SIT during the period 22nd October, 3 2022 to 28th October, 2022 giving at least two days prior notice to the learned Advocate for the petitioner."

The bench allowed the SIT to interrogate and take all other steps such as medical examination of the petitioner in the course of interrogation.

The complainant had filed an application before the Aberdeen Police Station in Port Blair on September 30, on the basis of which the FIR was lodged.

A joint team of police officers from Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Delhi raided the house of Narain on October 18, following which he filed an application before the Delhi High Court praying for transit anticipatory bail.

A single bench of the Delhi High Court granted interim protection from arrest to Narain till October 28.

He thereafter filed an application before the Calcutta High Court praying for an extension of time on the ground that the next circuit bench at Port Blair will start from November 14, so that he gets an opportunity to pray for anticipatory bail before it at the Andaman and Nicobar capital.

The division bench comprising justices Chaudhuri and Biswas on October 21 granted liberty to both the petitioner and the prosecution to place the matter before the circuit bench on the date of its first sitting after vacation on November 14 with a prayer to fix a date for the hearing of the application.

"Till that date the interim protection against arrest is granted in favour of the petitioner," the court directed.

The SIT was constituted to probe allegations that a 21-year-old woman in Andaman and Nicobar Islands was lured to the chief secretary’s home by promising a government job and then raped by top officials there.

The police registered a case earlier this month after the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Port Blair ordered its filing based on a petition by the young woman.

The court which took cognisance of the complaint accusing the then chief secretary of the island Jitendra Narain, a 1990 batch IAS officer, and Labour Commissioner R L Rishi of raping the woman besides naming a police officer and hotel owner as among accomplices in the crime, also ordered the probe on August 30.