A senior Navy doctor has been accused of molesting a junior lady doctor on two occasions this month.
One of the incidents happened inside the bungalow of an Admiral who was not present in his house. The Admiral was away in Visakhapatnam on official duty when the duo from the Navy’s medical unit went to his house in central Delhi to attend to his mother.
Within days, the second incident happened inside INS India, a naval administrative establishment in the capital.
The Navy received a complaint from the victim on May 6 and a board of inquiry, headed by a Captain rank officer, was ordered on May 9. A lady officer of adequate seniority is also a member of the board, which is likely to submit its report to the naval headquarters shortly. As per the procedure of the Armed Forces, the accused has been asked to go on leave during the investigation. “The Indian Navy has zero tolerance on such matters. Once the enquiry process is completed, justice would be done,” said a Navy spokesperson.
The maritime force has earlier witnessed several allegations of molestation, adultery and wife-swapping cases. While several guilty officers and sailors were punished, the Supreme Court recently asked the Kerala Police to form a special team headed by a DIG-rank officer to complete the probe into a wife-swapping case within three months.
The allegations were made by the estranged wife of a Navy officer. The Navy currently has more than 500 women officers, almost half of them are doctors.
Besides medical and nursing, women are now allowed in the Navy in the fighting units, education, law, air traffic controllers, meteorology, naval construction, observers and logistics branches.
The incident has come to light at a time when the armed forces are opening their doors to more women.
Published 25 May 2016, 19:52 IST