Anjali Gupta vs. Indian Air Force
Don't even think about claiming sexual harassment if you're a woman in the Indian Air Force. First, your charges will be dismissed. Then, you'll be put in jail, "for your own protection." And finally, you'll be court-martialled on trivial charges, and convicted by a jury that, to add insult to injury, includes two senior women officers (one of whom is Air Marshal Padmavati Bandyopadhyay, the highest-ranking female officer in the Indian military).
Here's the back-story from Mumbai's Mid-Day:
"She refused to play ball with senior officers who wanted her to 'co-operate' with them in various ways including participating in collecting bribes for recruitment of cooks and others. (Apparently the going rate for a cook in the force is Rs two lakh)," he reveals.
Jitender claims Gupta was forever being harassed for illegal favours. "The more she refused to join them at parties in the night, the more she was harassed.
In fact, Anjali had earlier complained to her seniors about the drunken behavior of Sq Ldr Choudhary who was even issued a Form10 by the IAF.
Every time she complained to higher authorities about malpractices in her department, she would be moved to another department. She was moved around 6-7 times in the last one year," he states.(Mid-Day)
And here's today's news:
An Indian Air Force court martial has recommended that Flying Officer Anjali Gupta be cashiered from service. Gupta and her family contend that she is being framed because she brought charges of sexual harassment against superior officers and because she blew the whistle on corrupt deals.
In armed forces' parlance, "cashiering" is a more severe punishment than "dismissal". A cashiered officer is denied the privileges of rank and post-service benefits. The five-member jury's proposal in the court martial headed by Group Captain Ganesh in Bangalore has to be confirmed by Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi.
The court martial has found Gupta guilty of five of seven charges brought against her. She was charged on five counts of financial embezzlement (amounting to Rs 1,080), insubordination, indiscipline, irregularity and conduct unbecoming of an officer. (Calcutta Telegraph)
Oh no, she embezzled 1080 Rupees! (approx. US $25). And let's see, insubordination (because she says her superior officers were hitting on her?) and indiscipline (because she refused to go along?).
If the Air Force can explain why they found her sexual harassment charges to be false, they really need to do so ASAP. Otherwise, this case case stinks to the high heavens.
Posted by Amardeep Singh at December 08, 2005