Jammu and Kashmir High Court Wednesday refused to quash an FIR against a senior Indian Air Force officer for the alleged rape of a female colleague, instead asking the police to complete its probe and file its chargesheet.
The case pertains to an FIR from September, when a wing commander of the Indian Air Force was accused of sexually assaulting a woman colleague during a new year’s party at the Srinagar Air Force Station, where they are both stationed, on January 1. The woman officer claimed that the male officer – her superior in the force – had called her to his room under the ruse of some new year presents and assaulted her.
In its order, the court quashed two trial court orders pertaining to the central government’s request to have the probe transferred to the Indian Air Force. In the first order, passed on October 10, the trial court had allowed the petition but recalled this a week later claiming that the accused had “suppressed facts”.
Despite this, however, it allowed the central government to file a new petition requesting transfer of the probe, saying it could be done after the chargesheet is filed.
“The court has dismissed the petition filed by the accused officer,” Aisha, an advocate who represented the woman Air Force officer in the case, told The Indian Express. “The accused officer had sought quashing the FIR against him”.
In her complaint to the police, the woman officer alleged she was subjected to continuous harassment, sexual assault and mental torture by the authorities at the Srinagar Air Force station and said she was forced to approach the police upon finding that no action had taken by the force.
After the FIR was registered in September, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was set up to probe the woman officer’s allegations. Meanwhile, the central government approached the trial court on invoking Section 124 of the Indian Air Force Act 1950 – a provision that deals with court martial proceedings. It eventually challenged the recalling of October 10 trial court order in the HC.
In its order Wednesday, the HC, which court clubbed the petitions together, said that the bail application of the accused officer will be heard separately.–(The Indian Express)
