New Delhi, September 6
In an apparent effort to deflect attention and not let the issue of the “misconduct” of a Major-General with his fellow lady officer turned into a major controversy, defence minister A.K. Antony has stepped in and asked the chief of Army staff, Gen J.J. Singh, to submit a detailed report to him in this regard.

The reaction from the minister came a day after he assured Parliament that “adequate” grievance redressal mechanism had been put in place to address sexual harassment and other complaints of women officers.

This as there have been a rising number of complaints of sexual harassment in the armed forces and the government in an effort to address the issue has put this redressal mechanism in place.

The minister told Parliament that “commanders at all levels have been instructed to be more sensitive to the tasks being assigned to lady officers with special focus on providing an honourable working environment for them”.

“Provision of honourable working environment, being sensitive to constraints faced by the lady officers in performing certain specified tasks and to keep in mind displayed aptitudes when assigning other core duties are other instructions given to the commanders,” the minister said.

“Women officers are also free to approach their commanding officers or supervisors at any time to discuss their personal and official problems to seek immediate assistance,” the minister said while adding that the women officers were also being provided with separate living accommodation in officers’ mess as part of new measures to address grievances specific to them.

Capt Neha Rawat complained about the “misconduct” of Maj-Gen A.K. Lal of 3 Infantry Division from Leh to the Northern Command chief, Lieut-Gen H.S. Panag.

Taking serious note, General Panag had ordered an inquiry into the incident and also ordered the removal of Maj-Gen Lal from Leh to ensure “a fair and objective inquiry”.

The Army asked him to report to the 15 Corps HQ at Srinagar till the matter is fully investigated.

The defence minister also today asked Army Headquarters to put before him the facts about the selling of weapons illegally in Bikaner and Sriganganagar.

An Army spokesman said if the charges of misconduct were found to be substantiated, a court of inquiry would be instituted. Similarly, in the case of illegal sale of arms, the Jaipur-based Army Southwestern Command had ordered a probe.