Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Friday suspended Bargarh District Education Officer (DEO) Jyotikanta Sahoo and Block Education Officer (BEO) Surendra Kumar Sahu following their arrest over two weeks ago in a sexual harassment case.
According to separate orders issued by the School and Mass Education department, both officers, arrested on April 30 have been placed under suspension under provisions of the Odisha Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1962.
According to the government orders, Jyotikanta’s headquarters will remain at the office of the Regional Director of Education, Sambalpur, after release from judicial custody.
Surendra’s headquarters has been fixed at the district education office, Bargarh. Both officers have been barred from leaving headquarters without prior permission of the competent authority and will be entitled to subsistence allowance as per service rules.
The case against the suspended officials was registered under relevant sections of the BNS along with provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
It may be recalled that the incident came to light after a woman CRCC-level employee approached the deputy collector alleging workplace sexual harassment. Following preliminary inquiry, Bargarh Town police registered an FIR and arrested Jyotikanta and Surendra. Police had stated that the BEO, backed by the DEO, played a key role in harassment of women staff.
After their arrest, the district administration had recommended suspension of the DEO and the BEO to the state government on May 12.
The Bargarh district administration had earlier suspended Satlama high school’s physical education teacher (PET) Sameer Kumar Panigrahi, another accused in the case, over allegations of fund misappropriation on May 4. The PET teacher, who was also arrested, is accused of misappropriating government funds.
