SC pulls up Telangana govt for insensitivity in suicide of BHEL woman officer

New Delhi, Dec 5 : The Supreme Court has pulled up the Telangana government for being insensitive to the plea of the mother of a woman finance officer in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) who allegedly committed suicide due to repeated sexual harassment at her workplace.
On Friday, as the Telangana government counsel sought a four-week adjournment, a bench comprising Justices A. M. Khanwilkar and S. Ravindra Bhat said: “We deprecate the request made by the counsel for the State of Telangana for an adjournment in this case and that too for a period of four weeks.” The bench observed that to avoid embarrassment to the state, it would refrain from recording the reasons mentioned across the Bar for that adjournment. “The reasons stated indicates the insensitivity with which the investigation is progressing in this case. We say no more for the time being”, said the bench.
The top court also directed the Home Secretary of the state government to personally look into this aspect and issue appropriate directions to ensure compliance with its direction. “Registry is directed to forward a copy of this order to the Home Secretary, State of Telangana for immediate compliance through email/on-line”, noted the bench.
The top court has posted the matter for further hearing in the week commencing from December 14.
The plea was filed by the mother of the 33-year-old victim through advocate Alok Srivastava.