Antony dismisses tainted Naval Officer

Amidst a row over a Navy Lieutenant’s wife alleging molestation by his seniors, Defence Minister A K Antony has ordered the dismissal of another Navy officer who was found guilty of having an affair with his senior’s wife.
Antony dismisses tainted Naval Officer

Amidst a row over a Navy Lieutenant’s wife alleging molestation by his seniors, Defence Minister A K Antony has ordered the dismissal of another Navy officer who was found guilty of having an affair with his senior’s wife.

Defence Ministry officials said here without identifying the Lieutenant Commander, whose dismissal was recommended by the Navy Headquarters after a probe, that he was held guilty of “stealing the affection of a fellow officer’s wife”, an offence under the naval service laws and rules. However, they did not share further details about the officer or the case.

He was dismissed by Antony on the basis of the inquiry report submitted by the Naval Headquarters.

The dismissal has came at a time when the Navy is in the midst of a controversy with a Lieutenant’s wife alleging she was molested by her husband’s senior officers.

However, the Navy has rejected the allegations in the complaint of the woman against the Lieutenant and other officers.  All the officers listed in the complaint are  based in Southern Naval Command in Kochi.

Divorce Plea Lead to Charges:  Navy Meanwhile the Navy on Friday submitted a three-page note to Defence Minister A K Antony in the dowry harassment case filed by a Navy officer’s wife with the Kerala police.

 In the note, the Navy said that she filed the harassment case after the officer, a Lieutenant, filed for divorce.

 A month earlier, she had also complained of sexual harassment by the officer and his colleagues in a letter to the Navy Headquarters. But investigations by the Kochi-based Southern Naval Command found no merit in her allegations.

 After a two-year discord in their five-year relationship, the Lieutenant had filed for divorce on the grounds of mental and physical cruelty on March 28 this year.

But soon after that the woman lodged complaints of sexual harassment against him and his fellow officers on April 4 with the Navy Headquarters.

The woman, according to the report, has had a history of filing cases against the Lieutenant, a Marine Commando, both before and after they got married in early 2012.

In February 2012, the woman lodged her first police complaint of harassment with Mumbai police against the officer and his superiors she had contacted to settle their marital discord.

 Soon after, the Lieutenant visited her and the two married on March 9, 2012, at an Arya Samaj mandir.

Then, the woman submitted a letter to the Mumbai police seeking to quash the FIR lodged against him and his superiors, the report said, adding that the case was closed in September 2012.

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