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IAF to act against officer over rape, security breach

ByRahul Singh, New Delhi
Oct 03, 2024 08:49 AM IST

The IAF plans strict action against a wing commander accused of rape and security breaches, amid ongoing investigations and legal proceedings.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to initiate strict action against a fighter pilot who has been accused of rape by a former civilian intern, and indicted by a court of inquiry for violating security protocols at one of the country’s foremost fighter bases, two senior air force officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.

The Ambala airbase houses the Rafale fighter jets. (Rahul Singh/HT Photo)
The Ambala airbase houses the Rafale fighter jets. (Rahul Singh/HT Photo)

The 40-year-old wing commander is posted at the Ambala airbase, where he is serving in a Jaguar fighter squadron. A 25-year-old former intern at the Palam-based Institute of Aerospace Safety, which comes under IAF, has accused him of rape and criminal intimidation.

The wing commander faced two separate IAF investigations into the allegations against him — a court of inquiry ordered by the Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Air Force Station Ambala, and another by the chief of the Delhi-headquartered Western Air Command, said the first official. The first probe looked into protocol violation charges and the second into rape allegations.

He was commissioned into IAF in June 2007.

The development comes just weeks after another wing commander at an IAF base in Srinagar was accused of rape by a 26-year-old flying officer at the same airbase. The flying officer filed a police complaint saying the wing commander raped her on New Year’s Eve, and alleged several lapses in an internal investigation by IAF led to further harassment and mental torture. The Jammu & Kashmir Police are investigating the allegations.

The security breach at the Ambala airbase, where IAF has deployed its Rafale and Jaguar fighter planes, involved the officer facilitating unauthorised access to the air force station’s technical area, using smartphones in restricted areas, and circulating photographs of aircraft, said the second official.

“IAF has a zero-tolerance policy in such cases, including acts of moral turpitude. The strictest punishment will be handed out to the officer to deter personnel from violating mandatory protocols. The services of seven to eight personnel have been terminated in the last two to three years,” he added.

An IAF spokesperson refused comments on the Ambala case saying it was subjudice.

Based on the complaint filed by the woman intern on December 1, 2023, at the Connaught Place police station, the Delhi Police filed a first information report (FIR) under sections 376 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and launched an investigation into the allegations of rape and criminal intimidation against the wing commander.

To be sure, the additional court of inquiry was ordered by the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Air Command to look into the serious allegations made by the intern.

In a 22-page complaint sent to IAF in March 2024, the intern sought justice and a free and fair inquiry. In her complaint, the woman, who was interning as a psychologist at the Institute of Aerospace Safety in 2022, accused the wing commander of taking her to a Connaught Place hotel on the pretext of conducting a stress assessment test on him and raping her, two months after they met during a conference at the Ambala airbase in September 2022.

The intern claimed that the officer later apologised, professed his love for her, entered into a live-in relationship (she stayed with him in Ambala for a few months in 2023) and promised to marry her, posing as a bachelor. She has alleged that when she confronted him after finding out that he was married and had two daughters, the wing commander assaulted and raped her again in November 2023. She has alleged that a group captain at the base tried to protect the accused.

The nature of allegations against the officer call for trial by a general court martial (GCM) where conviction may result in exemplary punishments including cashiering (loss of rank and retirement benefits) coupled with imprisonment, said Major General Nilendra Kumar (retd), who served as the army’s Judge Advocate General from 2001 to 2008.

“In a case such as this, there are two angles — allegations of security breach and other lapses; and rape. The first matter comes under IAF’s jurisdiction. Since it falls in the nature of disciplinary charges, the usual mode will be trial by a GCM after recording summary of evidence,” said Kumar.

As far as the rape allegation is concerned, it falls under the jurisdiction of a competent criminal court, he said, adding that the criminal court will take into account the punishment already handed out by IAF (military trials are faster) before delivering its verdict.

The wing commander approached the Delhi high court on August 28 seeking a stay on the two inquiries against him.

The fighter pilot’s counsel told the court that the subject matter of the two courts of inquiry against the petitioner is the same as that under investigation by the police, and the respondents (Union of India & Others) should be restrained from initiating any action based on the findings of the courts of inquiry.

But additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma, who appeared on behalf of the respondents, said no action was being proposed in respect of the rape charges, which are the subject matter of the investigation under the pending FIR No. 219/2023, PS Connaught Place, New Delhi.

He said the charges based on which disciplinary/administrative action was proposed to be taken pertained to his violating mandatory protocols leading to breach of security of the air force station as well as the country.

The court said that before passing further orders, it was necessary to examine the nature of charges on which the respondents propose to take action against the wing commander.

“We direct that till the next date, though the respondents (Union of India & Others) will be free to proceed with the disciplinary/administrative action against the petitioner, they will not pass any final orders without the leave of this court,” a bench of justices Rekha Palli and Shalinder Kaur said.

The matter will be heard again on November 5.

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