Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday sought a report on the incident in which a Naval officer’s wife filed a police complaint alleging dowry and sexual harassment against her husband and his senior officials of the Southern Naval Command.
A day after it came to light that the wife of a young Navy Lieutenant filed a police complaint against him, a Commodore, a Captain and three other officers, Antony was quoted by Defence Ministry officials of “wanting a report” on the events that led to the police case.
The Kochi Harbour police had on Wednesday registered an FIR on the basis of the woman’s complaint, in which she alleged that the Lieutenant was harassing her demanding dowry and the other officers had been threatening and sexually harassing her.
“Antony also issued a strong message to all the officers of the armed forces not to get involved in controversies,” the officials said, adding that Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma was asked to get the report and put it up before the Defence Minister.
Soon after registering of the complaint, the Southern Naval Command headquarters clarified that the lieutenant and his wife had domestic discord and as part of marriage counselling, the other Navy officers and their spouses had tried to resolve the issues between the two.
However, their efforts failed, leading to the woman levelling “unfair” allegations against other officers too, it said.
It also said that it would cooperate with the police investigation.