A 26-year-old flying officer with the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Srinagar has filed a police complaint alleging that a wing commander at the same base raped her on New Year’s Eve, adding that several lapses in the internal investigation led to further harassment and mental torture, local officials said on Tuesday.
Based on her complaint filed on September 8 at Srinagar’s Budgam police station, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have filed a first information report under section 376(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and launched an investigation into the allegations, the officials cited above added.
The woman officer — posted at the Srinagar air force station — also sought legal action against five “perpetrators”, including an air commodore, three group captains and a wing commander, while alleging a string of lapses in the internal investigations that led to “continued mental harassment”. The FIR, however, did not give details of their involvement in the case.
According to the allegations in the FIR, seen by HT, the incident took place eight months ago after a New Year’s party at an officers’ mess on December 31 when the wing commander allegedly asked the complainant if she had received a gift on the occasion. When she said she hadn’t, the officer allegedly took her to his room — where the gifts were kept and his family wasn’t present — and forced her to perform oral sex on him, she alleged.
“I repeatedly asked him to stop doing it and tried to resist it in all ways possible. Finally, I pushed him and ran away,” her complaint said. The woman officer was commissioned into IAF two years ago and this is her first posting.
An IAF spokesperson in Delhi said that the police have approached the Srinagar air force station and local authorities are cooperating with the investigation. He refused further comments saying, “the matter is under investigation.”
The police said investigation in the case is going on without giving further details.
In the FIR, she alleged that she confided in two women officers that she was sexually assaulted, and they guided her to lodge an official complaint, following which a court of inquiry was ordered. According to her, the wing commander was made to sit with her during the proceedings on January 29 and 30, 2024, to which she objected as it violated regulations in such cases.
It was after this that an internal committee assembled on April 2, she said in the FIR.
“The internal committee did not do its job properly as directions had come from higher formation to keep the result as neutral. Everyone was aiding the sexual offender…I requested interim relief and leave multiple times, but I was denied leave each time. I asked that either self or wing commander gets posted from this place, but till date both are posted in the same place. I am forced to socialise with these people and attend events with my abuser,” she alleged in the FIR.
In her complaint, the woman officer further alleged that while the wing commander was enjoying himself, she was being harassed by the authorities. The investigation ended on May 15.
“Till date no action has been taken.” She also alleged “continuous mental harassment and social boycott.”
“The ongoing harassment has had a severe impact on my mental health. I am living in constant fear, under 24/7 scrutiny and my social life has been completely disrupted. The harassment has driven me to suicidal thoughts, and I feel utterly helpless. I have endured this torture for too long, and I am at my breaking point.”
She alleged that a person she spoke with was detained and questioned by the local authorities on the orders of a group captain and a court of inquiry was ordered against her with the terms of reference being, “to investigate the report of authorised stay at living accommodation of flying officer (the complainant) by an army officer.”
To be sure, an internal inquiry must be completed within 90 days, according to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013. The act also makes it the duty of every employer to provide women a safe working environment at the workplace and provide assistance to a woman if she chooses to file a criminal complaint.
The protocol for probing sexual harassment cases in the Air Force emanates from the Vishakha guidelines. If found guilty, the accused will be tried under the IPC.
The woman has named five other people in her complaint which is part of the FIR. The complaint says, “I request you to initiate appropriate legal action against all perpetrators involved as mentioned (a) Wg Cdr (accused) (b) Gp Capt… Aided by the others (a) (b) (c) (d)…”
