The Nagaland government has suspended IAS officer Reny Wilfred, a 2015 batch IAS officer, who was the Joint Secretary of the Investment and Development Authority of Nagaland (IDAN), amid a criminal investigation into sexual harassment charges against him.
In April, the Nagaland Police had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the allegation against Wilfred raised by employees of IDAN.
Soon after that, he was relieved of his position in the IDAN.
In an order signed by Chief Secretary J Alam , he has been placed under suspension citing “a criminal offence under investigation”.
The order also said that during this period, he would be entitled to a subsistence allowance “at an amount equal to leave pay he would have drawn if he had been on leave on half-average pay or half pay”.
What is the case?
According to Nagaland Police, the case against Wilfred began when the chairperson of the Nagaland State Women's Commission, Ngineig Konyak, wrote to DGP Rupin Sharma that she had received “verbal intimation” of the allegations from IDAN chairman Abu Metha. Metha is the Advisor to the Nagaland Chief Minister and Secretary General of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), which is in power in Nagaland in coalition with the BJP.
Wilfred is also accused of raping two minors
This was not the first such case against the IAS officer. In 2021, he was accused of sexually assaulting two minor girls while serving as the Deputy Commissioner of the Noklak district bordering Myanmar.
The girls – sisters aged 14 and 17 – were from the Khiamniungan Naga community.
An investigation by Noklak's sub-divisional police officer in July 2021 found the allegations against Wilfred to be true. The Nagaland police's Special Investigation Team filed a charge sheet against him in December 2021 after finding him prima facie guilty of aggravated sexual assault, sexual harassment, and offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of 2012.
The IAS officer challenged the Noklak case, which progressed to the Supreme Court. In June 2023, the top court stayed the criminal trial against him.
What Wilfred says?
Wilfred has denied these charges and told reporters that this was an attempt to force him to leave Nagaland. He had alleged that he had long been the target of “framing” by some unnamed top officials in the Nagaland government for not supporting a purported plan to overthrow the Nagaland government in 2016, and for acting against child trafficking in Noklak district.
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