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The Army has initiated General Court Martial proceedings against a Major who has been accused of sexual assault on the minor daughter of a domestic help who worked in his house.
The court martial proceedings are taking place in Punjab’s Ferozepur. The allegations against the officer pertain to his place of posting in Delhi Cantonment. The Major belongs to the Corps of Army Air Defence and was residing in married officers’ accommodation in Delhi Cantonment along with his wife when the allegations surfaced regarding sexual assault on 11-year-old daughter of the domestic help.
An official complaint was lodged with the Army authorities at Station Headquarters Delhi Area, Delhi Cantonment, by the domestic help against the Major in January 2022.
Based on the complaint, a Court of Inquiry was ordered by the Army authorities and the same was conducted by the HQ 715 (Independent) Air Defence Brigade with Colonel Satinder Khola as its presiding officer and Lt Col Vikas Khare of 917 Light Air Defence Regiment (Composite) Work Shop and Maj Seema Nayal of 406 Missile Regiment as its members. The Court of Inquiry was conducted during the period from February 7, 2022 to February 11, 2022 at New Delhi.
The Major, subsequently, filed a petition in the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) seeking quashing of the proceedings against him and alleged that there were inconsistencies in the recording of the Court of Inquiry. It was alleged in the petition that the Court of Inquiry did not provide him with a copy of the complaint nor did it comply with the requirement of Rule 180 of the Army Rules. It was also stated that even the statements of the complainant (the domestic help), her daughter and her husband were not taken in the presence of the Major.
The AFT proceedings noted that during the period between November 23 and November 28 in 2021, it was alleged that when the wife of the Major went to her parent’s house, the domestic help requested the Army officer to teach her daughter who was then studying in Class V.
The AFT further noted that it had been alleged that during the period between November 26 and November 27, the Major reportedly taught her daughter. He is also reported to have taught the minor on some other occasions too in the coming weeks. Allegations of a tiff between the wife of the Major and the domestic help as well as between his mother and sister and the domestic help had also been made before the AFT.
The Army refuted allegations of irregularities in the conduct of Court of Inquiry in the counter affidavit filed in AFT. It said that as the case involved the character and military reputation of the Major and also involved a minor girl child, it was ensured that there were no clerks or any other person involved in preparing of the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry. The Presiding Officer, while recording the statements of witnesses had noted down all the statements and made transcripts of the same and thereafter the officer had himself typed all the statements from the working record created by him.
The petition seeking quashing of proceedings was dismissed by the AFT following which the Army initiated disciplinary proceedings which culminated in the Court Martial against the officer which is currently underway.
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