NEW DELHI: A Congress social media wing member has been arrested on charges of sexual harassment on a complaint by a former colleague. The woman had alleged that the man would make her uncomfortable in office through inappropriate gestures and had been harassing her.

The accused was later granted bail after providing surety as the section of sexual harassment is bailable. The arrested man has been identified as one Chirag Patnaik, a resident of Noida. He was placed under arrest around 9.30pm on Monday. He was earlier called in for questioning.

DCP (New Delhi) Madhur Verma confirmed the arrest. A senior officer said that an FIR was earlier filed at North Avenue police station against Patnaik on July 3.

The complainant worked as a social media manager and was tasked to run the official (@INCIndia) and communication (@INCSandesh) handles of Congress. She said she directly reported to cell chief Divya Spandana and coordinated with Patnaik who also managed the office.

“I had joined the cell on March 5 and worked at the office located at 15, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road. The general protocol was that I would run the tweets past Patnaik before posting them. I would painfully recall my tenure as full of harassment,” the complainant said.

The FIR says on many occasions between April 4 and May 23, Patnaik “violated her personal space” by coming too close to her. “I was busy concentrating on my computer screen. Patnaik encircled me from behind in the manner most immoral. He also exhaled into my breathing space whenever he encircled me. That was absolutely disgusting and immoral. He would rest his legs upon the extended platforms pointing his shoes at me in a disgraceful manner. I also found him gazing at the contours of my body in a very violating and hurtful way. It was almost a daily ordeal for me,” the complaint read.

Since he had the power to get anyone fired from the office, I had tolerated his behaviour initially out of the fear of losing my job. But towards the end of my tenure, even on May 22, I made several verbal and non-verbal communication of a strong disapproval of his misbehaviour. I tried to complain to Divya about his behaviour on May 14 but she refused to listen to my complaint and diverted the topic to my work performance instead,” the complaint read.

It added, “Frequent misbehaviour by Patnaik coupled with Divya Spandana’s arrogant attitude had rendered the working place intolerable. As a result, I resigned on May 17 citing psychological disturbance. My resignation was, however, only accepted on May 24. The period in between was marred with mental harassment. Despite knowing I was disturbed, Spandana did not correct her behaviour towards me. She humiliated me with insulting work-related messages in the office group for no fault of mine. My professionalism and manners were also questioned. I broke down inconsolably on May 23 and never returned to office.”

