Deaf-mute military hospital staffer alleges rape; 4 jawans booked

16.10.2018
Pune/Indore:
The Pune police on Tuesday booked four army jawans for allegedly raping a 30-year-old woman, who suffers from speech and hearing impairment, over a span of four years at the Military Hospital, Khadki. The woman works as a Grade IV employee at the hospital.

Besides the case registered by the Khadki police, the Station Headquarter, Kirkee, has initiated a court of inquiry against the jawans.

Senior inspector Rajendra Mohite of the Khadki police station told TOI, “We have registered the offence under sections 376 (rape) and 354 (molestation) of Indian Penal Code.”

In July, the woman approached an Indore-based NGO, which works for the welfare of speech and hearing impaired people. The NGO took her statement through signlanguage expert Gyanendra Purohit. Purohit also came with the woman to Pune and submitted a complaint to the hospital’s commandant. On Monday, the woman approached Indore DIG Harinarayanachari Mishra.

In the FIR with the Khadki police, the woman has stated that she started working at the hospital in July 2014. She said she was first raped by one of the jawans during her night shift. She claimed she reported the rape to her immediate superior, a nursing assistant, through a text message.

The woman said the superior, who is also a jawan, promised to look into her complaint and called the jawan who had allegedly raped her. However, they both joined hands and demanded sexual favours from her while threatening to make the text message go viral, the FIR states. The duo was joined by the other two jawans and she was repeatedly raped by them over four years, she alleged.

Military hospital staffer alleges rape

Mohite said two of the jawans also made a video clip of a sex act with the woman and blackmailed her. He said the woman’s complaints to different administrative heads in the hospital went unheard. The woman, who is a widow and has a 12-year-old son, told the police that she had requested the hospital authorities to give her day duties only, but her plea fell on deaf ears.

Speaking to TOI, a senior army officer said the two main accused jawans are from the Army Medical Corps (AMC) and were pursuing courses at the hospital. “Currently, one is posted with the Northern Command in Kashmir while the other is attached with the Lucknow-based military establishment. Of the other two jawans, one is still posted at the hospital while the other was transferred out of Pune recently,” the officer said.

The officer said the court of inquiry, comprising six officers including women officers from the hospital, has started its investigations in the matter. “Based on the inquiry report, disciplinary action will be initiated against the jawans,” he said.

The officer, however, denied the woman’s allegation that she was not taken off the night shift. “She was given day duties since the past three months. She now works from 8am to 4pm. We have also appointed an assistant to help her with her work,” he claimed.

The Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch of the Southern Command is also assisting the inquiry panel in the investigations, sources said.