Team Herald
PONDA: The Ponda police on Tuesday registered a case against the Usgao-Ganjem panchayat secretary, Honaji Morajkar (55), for allegedly outraging the modesty of a 22-year-old woman from Valpoi.
According to the police, the accused, a resident of Sankhali, contacted the complainant and persistently sent lewd messages to her on her WhatsApp. On January 3, while travelling from Panjim to Usgao in the car with the accused, and near Ponda, Morajkar allegedly outraged her modesty with the intention of sexual gratification.
Following a complaint, the police registered the case under Sections 75(2), 75(3), 78(2), and 79 of the BNS 2023.
The victim, who had been working in the panchayat office since October 2, 2024, resigned on January 4 this year due to alleged sexual harassment, according to the complaint. She has also filed a formal complaint with the Ponda Block Development Officer (BDO) and the Director of Panchayats.
The victim, along with six other girls seeking employment, had approached the panchayat secretary, who had offered them contract-based jobs to conduct a survey for the reassessment of house taxes within the Usgao-Ganjem village panchayat jurisdiction. Morajkar instructed them to begin the fieldwork on Gandhi Jayanti day.
According to the complainant, the girls were promised a monthly remuneration of Rs 24,000 and were asked to pay Rs 9,000 in cash to Morajkar. Subsequently, the victim and the others handed over Rs 9,000 each month to the accused.
However, on October 15, 2024, Morajkar instructed the victim to stop the fieldwork and work in the panchayat office instead. She was asked to sit in his office cabin and handle tasks such as reassessment letters, income certificates, trade licences, and NOCs for water and electricity connections.
In December 2024, the victim took leave to care for her sick mother. It was then that the accused began sending lewd messages and making sexual comments toward her. The victim has provided photocopies of the screenshots of the messages as evidence.