BANGALORE: A day after the General Court Martial ordered the cashiering of Indian Air Force Flying Officer Anjali Gupta, the Indian Air Force authorities on Friday said the court of inquiry looking into charges of sexual harassment made by Ms. Gupta against three IAF officers had concluded that she had "failed to prove her complaint."

Releasing the finding of the five-member court of inquiry submitted two months ago, the IAF's Senior Personnel Staff Officer, Gp. Capt. Ajay Masson, told reporters that the court of inquiry team headed by Air Marshal Bandopadhya had unanimously come to the opinion that Ms. Gupta had failed to prove the sexual harassment charges.

"No action needs to be taken against Sqn. Ldr. R.S. Choudhary, Wg. Cdr. V.C. Cyriac, and Air Cmdre. Anil Chopra," the inquiry report concluded, said Gp. Capt. Masson. It was on September 16 that the court of inquiry team headed by Air Marshal Bandopadhya, the senior-most woman IAF officer, was set up.

This court of inquiry replaced the inquiry team headed by Air Marshal V.R. Iyer, which various women's organisations had accused of being an `all-man' inquiry team.

The new team included Hemalatha Mahishi, member of the Karnataka State Commission for Women.

The inquiry team held its sittings between September 21 and September 23 on the IAF Command Hospital premises. Ms. Gupta failed to appear before the team on all three days.

The team, Gp. Capt. Masson, said went through 25 documents and recorded statements of seven witnesses, which included the three officers against whom Ms. Gupta had levelled charges of sexual harassment, and submitted their finding to the Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Training Command, Air Marshal S. Bhojwani, on September 24. This report was then sent to the Air Headquarters. Gp. Capt. Masson added that ample opportunity was given to Ms. Gupta to substantiate the charges.

Police complaint

He refused to comment on the status of the sexual harassment complaint filed by Ms. Gupta against the three officers in the HAL police station. "The only thing that is borne from their records is the intimation sent by the police inspector to Ms. Gupta on March 21," he said and added, "You need to get in touch with the police to know the update."

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