BANGALORE: The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), which has been trying to ensure a fair trial for Flying Officer Anjali Gupta, who is the first women officer to be brought to trial before a court martial, said on Wednesday that it has failed in its attempts to reach the IAF top brass.

The AIDWA general secretary, K.S. Vimala, told presspersons here that all attempts to get an appointment with Air Marshal S. Bhojwani, AOC-in-C of the Headquarters Training Centre, had failed.

Letter prepared

In a letter it hoped to hand over to him, AIDWA said it is concerned over the manner in which Ms. Gupta is being treated. Ms. Vimala said she is particularly concerned over the "close arrest" under which Ms. Gupta has been held for several weeks now, even though it is not mandated under the Air Force Act, 1950.

Ms. Gupta is being kept in isolation and organisations such as AIDWA or any individual are being denied access to her. She has not been allowed 20 days travel time to go to New Delhi where her family lives and arrange for a competent Defence lawyer.

AIDWA claimed she is under stress and said it fails to understand why relatively minor charges against Ms. Gupta calls for such "harsh and inhuman" forms of confinement, well before the charges against her have been heard or proven. Those offences do not affect national security nor is the case being heard in extraordinary circumstances like war.

The Air Force is the first of the Defence services to open its doors to women in areas other than medical corps and the case of Ms. Gupta will set important legal and procedural precedents for women in the force, Ms. Vimala said. AIDWA has demanded that Ms. Gupta be released from close arrest immediately as the Judge Advocate of the general court martial has said the decision on close arrest does not come under the court's purview, but is an administrative decision.

Internal inquiry

AIDWA has pointed out that in the internal inquiry set up by the Air Force into Ms. Gupta's allegations of sexual harassment against three senior officers, the Air Force has not followed the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court on sexual harassment at the workplace.

The guidelines state that a woman should head the inquiry, a representative from a third party, such as a women's organisation or an NGO should be on the committee.

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