Sexual harassment case against Odisha Director General of Prisons, IPS officer Susanta Kumar Nath

A case has been registered against Odisha's Director General of Prisons (DG Prisons) Susanta Kumar Nath on charges of sexual harassment levelled by a woman officer subordinate to him. Following these serious allegations, the state government has transferred him as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Home Department until the inquiry is completed. According to a Hindustan Times report, this 1993-batch IPS officer is also one of the contenders for the post of the state's Director General of Police (DGP).

In this matter, a case was registered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Choudwar police station in Cuttack district on 31 October. Along with Susanta Kumar Nath, the name of his friend Kuldeep Rath has also been included in this case. Action has been taken under sections related to sexual harassment, criminal intimidation and common intention in the case registered by the police. Inspector Vikas Sethi has been appointed as the investigating officer to probe this entire matter.

It is learned that this entire controversy began in July 2025. According to the complaint filed by the 41-year-old woman jailer, when Nath's friend Kuldeep Rath was requested by Nath to visit the Choudwar Circle Jail, Rath started contacting the woman. During Rath's visit to the Choudwar Circle Jail where the woman jailer was posted, he obtained the woman's phone number. Subsequently, Rath started sending her messages which, according to the woman, were suggestive and unacceptable.

The complaint further stated that on 29 August last year, Rath called the woman and invited her for dinner with Nath at a restaurant in Cuttack. Later in September 2025, Rath contacted her again and invited her to a hotel for dinner or a party, stating that the IPS officer wanted to meet her alone. The woman declined both these invitations. The woman stated in her complaint, "I declined unacceptable personal invitations and did not comply with the demands or expectations expressed by Rath, and therefore I have been targeted by the Director General of Prisons ever since."

The woman further alleged that when she refused these invitations, she was falsely implicated in a case of prisoners escaping from her jurisdiction in the jail. During Durga Puja in October 2025, two unidentified prisoners escaped from the Choudwar Circle Jail. Following this incident, the woman was transferred to the Kantabanji sub-jail, but she could not immediately join duty due to health reasons. According to the complaint, she joined duty in December 2025, but fell ill again and was admitted to a government hospital.

The woman alleged that the Senior Superintendent of Choudwar Jail tampered with her signature and documents to implicate her in the prisoner escape case. The woman also lodged a complaint against the jail superintendent in this regard, which is currently under investigation. In this sequence of events, the woman was suspended from service in February 2026. The woman also alleged that her subsistence allowance was withheld for about six months, causing financial difficulties for her and her two minor daughters. Following the intervention of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), this allowance was paid on 4 August, 2026.

In the police complaint, the woman clearly stated, "The sequence of events makes it clear that Nath's attempt to force me to meet him alone at a hotel and the retaliatory action taken against me were a result of my refusal against his sexual advances." Currently, the investigation into this entire matter is underway and the officer has been transferred to the Home Department and kept under inquiry.