New Delhi: A woman flying officer in the Indian Air Force (IAF) posted in Srinagar says she has been living under constant fear for the past two years when she filed a police complaint against a Wing Commander accusing him of rape. Based on the complaint, an FIR has been filed at Budgam police station in Jammu and Kashmir.
The IAF has said they are cooperating with authorities. “We are aware of the case. Local police station Budgam has approached the Indian Air Force in Srinagar in this matter and we are fully cooperating with the local authorities,” the IAF told NDTV. The flying officer has said in her complaint that she has been suffering harassment, sexual assault and mental torture over the past two years.
According to her, her senior asked if she had received the gift at a New Year party at the officers’ mess on December 31, 2023. When she said she had not, the Wing Commander said the gifts were in his room and took her there. When she asked where his family was, he said they were elsewhere. The flying officer has alleged that her senior forced her into oral sex and molested her. “I repeatedly asked him to stop doing it and tried to resist it in all ways possible. Finally, I pushed him and ran away. He said that we would meet me on Friday again when his family leaves,” she was quoted as saying by NDTV.
The flying officer said it took her a while to register what happened to her. “I was afraid and didn’t know what to do as there were instances before also wherein I was discouraged to report. He visited my office post this incident… He behaved as if nothing happened and there was no sign of remorse in his eyes,” she said.
According to her, she reached out to two other women officers and they guided her to file a complaint. “I can’t describe (the) mental agony, being an unmarried girl who joined forces and was treated in such (a) heinous manner,” she told NDTV.
Following her complaint, a Colonel-rank officer was ordered to investigate the incident. The Wing Commander was made to sit down with her twice in January this year to record the statements, she alleged, adding that she objected to the senior officer’s presence and later the investigation was closed to “hide mistakes of administration”.
According to the report, she then filed a fresh application to the internal committee, which met two months later. “The bias of Stn (Station) authorities to aid the sexual offender was very heart-breaking for me,” she has said, alleging that a medical examination was not done till she insisted multiple times.
“IC (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 for interim relief and requested for leave multiple times but I was denied leave each time,” she was quoted as saying, alleging that her requests for a different posting for herself or the Wing Commander were not heeded either.
“I am forced to socialise with these people and attend events with my abuser…While he is enjoying. I am getting harassed in (the) hands of authorities on a daily basis,” she has said.
According to her, the Internal Committee said that it is inconclusive whether the incident happened or not because of the lack of an eyewitness and closed its probe in May. “Isn’t it common sense that someone would not do sexual assault in front of a witness?”
