Two Naval officers on Friday approached the High Court seeking to quash the FIR registered by the Harbour police against them on the basis of a complaint by Lt Ravi Kiran Kabdaula’s wife, raising a number of allegations, including sexual harassment charges, against them. The petition was filed by Commodore Anand Balakrishnan and Lt Ajay Jayakrishnan.
In her complaint, Ravi’s wife had mentioned the name of the petitioners and some other senior officers, including her husband, and raised certain allegations against them. According to the petitioners, further proceedings based on the FIR will amount to “gross violation of abuse of the process of the court and a misuse of the law machinery”. There were no reference to any part played by the petitioners.
Ravi’s wife had not lodged any complaint of rape or molestation by the Naval officers or her husband, they stated. The petitioners said the first complaint was an oral one, made on February 22 before the police, that her husband had seized her luggage, laptop and dependent card.
The items were returned to her and she left for Delhi the next day. The second complaint was sent to the Southern Naval Command but there were no allegations, particularly about Commodore B Anand.
On the basis of the complaint, a board of inquiry was initiated on April at the Naval headquarters in New Delhi, but the lady deliberately absented herself during the inquiry session. Even the wife of an officer in-charge of a diving school had been implicated in the case, the petitioners said.
On April 4, the lady had sent a complaint by post from New Delhi to the Harbour police. Allegations were levelled against the senior officers. Naval records would reveal that the officers were on duty elsewhere when the woman had alleged that she was molested by them, the petition stated.