SRINAGAR – A woman pilot of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Indian occupied Kashmir Tuesday filed a sexual harassment suit against her senior officer in Jammu and Kashmir high court.
Justice Sanjeev Kumar of JK court in this regard issued notices to the defense ministry and the Indian Air Force. The court asked all parties to file their responses within four weeks of time, reports in Indian media suggest.
The woman officer in the plea alleged that the flight commander repeatedly demanded sexual favours from her and passed intolerable comments against her. She further accused the officer of physically touching her at times.
Narrating the ordeal which she faced, she added that the culprit touched her on her shoulder and said *Le tujhe touch kiya ab kaise karegi apne aap ko sanitise?'*
The plea added that she was posted to Awantipur and then two years later to IIOJK, where the accused officer culprit was also posted as a flight commander. Indian air force officer once said *isko hath lagao toh current lagta hai* despite the petitioner firmly told him not to pass such comments, she narrated in the petition.
Adding that, she lodged a complaint with the IAF last year in December however the accused later got bail in the case.
The complainant took strong objection to the manner in which the ICC constituted under the Sexual Harassment at Work Place Act. She alleged the ICC proceedings as she was not allowed to cross-examine the accused and his witnesses. The Air Force Order violates Article 14 of the Constitution, she added.
The sexual harassment case has been listed for the next hearing on May 10.