Kochi/New Delhi, Apr 11 : The Kochi police on Wednesday registered a case of sexual harassment against 10 officers of Indian Navy, including a Commodore, after a liteutenant's wife filed a complaint that she was sexually harassed by senior officers and her husband forced her to submit.
The Southern Naval Command has rejected the lady's charges saying a marital discord has led to the filing of this complaint.
In her complaint filed with the Harbour police station, the lieutenant's wife alleged that over the past two months, her husband had "presented" her to several Naval officers seeking promotion and other benefits.
In her complaint, the victim said, when she resisted, her husband beat her up and locked her inside a room for hours.
Speaking to a local TV channel, the lady, who married in 2011, and has now filed for divorce, refuted the Indian Navy's claim that senior officers were involved only to settle their marital discord.
"It is a lie. They never counselled us. They are trying to cover up. I am also getting death threats", alleged the lady.
The Kerala High Court on Thursday will hear an anticipatory bail plea filed by the lady's husband, with the police saying that they would oppose the bail plea.
IG, Central Range, Kerala Police K. Padmakumar, said: "We are investigating the case. Since a petition is pending before the High Court, we can't divulge further at this juncture."
A Defence spokesperson on Wednesday, however, rejected the allegation holding it (the complaint) was the result of "a marital discord" and the allegations raised by the woman against "superior officers" were "unfair."
"A marital discord between a serving officer and his spouse has resulted in the spouse of the Officer lodging an FIR with the local Police here.... However, in this specific case, the wife of the officer has levelled unfair allegations against superior officers in her husband's chain of command, their spouses and other officers who have interacted with her," a Defence release said.
These officers, accompanied by their respective spouses, had only tried to unsuccessfully resolve the issues of the couple's personal life, it said.
"Unfortunately the lady had resorted to such methods of dragging her estranged spouse's colleagues into the vortex of their unhappy relationship," the release said.
The Navy, however, would co operate with the law enforcement agencies to ensure speedy completion of investigation "to clear the name of the officers who intervened in the line of duty to resolve the domestic discord of a young officer," the release added.
