Good to see that, she didnt get away just like that for falsely accusing people of sexual abuse.
I stand corrected Thanks to Indian Express. I would go by Indian Express anyday than any other media.
Anjali Gupta case has 2 parts
1. She was charged with financial irregularities
2. She charges her seniors with sexual harrasment
Judgement has been delivered for point 1. But not for point 2. Lets pray justice is being done and the guilty dont escape. Whoever it is!
We will never know the whole truth, will we?
I can’t see enough info in those articles to understand the full story as to what happened, what the accusations are and why she is being courtmartialled etc. Do not know whether or not the trial was just. But my immediate reaction is, it is certainly difficult for women to bring up a sexual harassment case in public and this case ain’t gonna help the wronged women of which there are tens of thousands.
I wonder how many males were on the jury.
Anon, Uma and Sangeeta
Agreed that many women are sexually abused. But that doesnt mean, some unaffected women can use sexual abuse as a complaint and get away with it!
And I think majority of the Indian Judges are impartial. They are not gender biased. I can keep on counting the cases, where the courts have given the strictest punishments for rapists!!!
And duty of a judge/jury is to do justice. Not biased on gender/caste/creed etc. So it is pointless to brand the judgement based on the sex of the judges!!
Ferrari, if you think majority of the judges (let alone Indian ones) are impartial, I am afraid you still have a lot to learn in life. Sorry if I come across rude, but I do not believe for a moment that judges in general can be branded as unbiased/impartial. In fact I think its laughable. Also I presume since she is being courtmartialled the case would not have been heard in regular courts but in an army court of some kind. As I have already said the story is not clear in the rediff article
Uma,
Well. If you are going to say about the judges in general, then I dont have any comments with respect to that. Opinion and perception differs!
You might want to read this article. Again its from rediff. http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/apr/27iaf.htm
And this was reported in April!
“An official of the rank of Air Vice Marshal, along with four other officers, including two women, will conduct the inquiry, an IAF spokesman told journalists in Bangalore.”
I certainly believe the judges are biased towards women in family courts expecially in divorce cases, even when there is the occassional cases where the male partner is the victim, the judges never believe their side of the story, but then it is only a fraction of the cases..
F, With such a limited information, anyone can come to any conclusion, right?
“Agreed that many women are sexually abused. But that doesnt mean, some unaffected women can use sexual abuse as a complaint and get away with it!” – Spoken like a true man. Misuse of the legal right is happening left, right and center. But if there is a remote chance that a woman might be misusing it especially in such cases as sexual harassment, we want justice to be done! Whem tens of tbousands of women are silently bearing it without having the guts to go public, news like these dont need to popularized. Mainly because of the lack of information in this case.
Anyways, no offense meant. I love your blogs. This piece made me comment for the first time. The first Anon was me.
Ferro, read my comment again at no stage did I say anything about women judges being more just. So the fact that the committee included two women judges doesn’t make a difference to me as far as I am concerned.
Anyway, reading through all the rediff articles pointed out by you and the BBC article today I still don’t understand what happened to the sexual harrasment case. Was it proven that she falsely accused? If so why are there no reports on that? All these reports say is that after she complained of harassment, she has been convicted of misappropriating funds & insubordination & behaviour unbecoming of an officer etc.
vijay,
I am not very sure about that. But one thing I know. Domestic Violence in India is much bigger than how it is portrayed!
Boo,
First things first, thanks a lot for vsiting my blog regularly. And regarding your arguments. See. I am not talking about anyone else. My discussion is only about Anjali Gupta. I am not generalising about all sexual abuse cases. This lady has been accused of financial irregularities and was courtmartialled. Immediately she came up with the sexual abuse charge! And a judge has given a decision on it. It starts there and ends there!
Agreed that misuse of legal right is happening. So does it qualify to dismiss all charges against anjali gupta even if she is guilty?
Uma,
You got it wrong. She was courtmartialled for financial irregularities and some 6 other cases. Immediately she came with a sexual harrasment charge against senior officials. Check it out!
And now that she has decided to take the matter to high court, lets see what happens!
My point is simple. A guilty person must be punished.
Ferro and others who commented on this blog. I have been following this piece of the story for a while now and also heard some stories from a friend’s brother in IAF. Seems there are grey shades of the story that never came out. Slip here and a slip there, both parties were involved. Except that the more experienced seniors played a much safer game and an inexperienced Anjali was caught in the mire. That alone is not the fault of hers. As mentioned in the ruling, she actually had a flying temper and had a demeanor that was more of a disgrace, not befitting of an officer in IAF. Anyways, these are beyond the scope – we are not anybody to judge her character. BTW, the jury had the First Woman Air Chief Marshall of IAF on it – Padma Bandopadhyay. Check this link for more.. http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/08anjali.htm
RC,
Thanks for the info maams. It is not anjali or whoever is accused. Those who are guilty MUST be punished. Let it be her, let it be her superior, let it be the head. Whoever it is! And I will anyday go by the judgement of the court rather than investigative journalism by media!
Rubic_cube, thanks. As to her behaviour etc I agree it appears to be unbecoming of an officer. And once again I repeat I never accused the jury/judges being just male.
But my issue here Prabhu is if you read your post again it seems to say that she took the men to court of sexual harrassment and she was courtmartialled for that. And none of the media reports seem to suggest that. As to guilty being punished no one is saying just because she is a woman is should be let off, I don’t know why you’ve suddenly started changing your tune here.
Uma,
I should have clarified more in the post. Sorry for it. Charges were levied agaisnt her for irregularities and she came up with sexual abuse charge. Media was talking about sexual abuse and not on her irregularities. Now after judgement, they have backtracked to sexual abuse charges!!
I am not changing tune or anything! I just linked to the rediff article and said people who falsely accuse cannot go scot free. there are 2 parts to the case. 1 is sexual abuse and 2 is irregularities.
hmm.. when it comes to sexual abuse/harassment, the truth is always hazy. You never can say what really happened. And in the hands of a clever lawyer/judge, things can be twisted so fast, that before you realize it, the tables will be turned.
I won’t agree that Gupta was lying. And I won’t agree she was saying the truth. Because when it comes to abuse, it’s about human perceptions. And nothing is as vacillating as that.
PS: Rape is a very strong form of harassment. I hope you know that. And we live in a country where even women will not be on the side of another woman when she is a victim.
PPS: Notice how many times she has complained, and how many times it has been dismissed or shrug off. Notice what a big deal “throwing a breakfast parcel meant for a senior officer” is made of. Notice that it is the IAF who made the issue public and not her.
PPS: Read Disclosure by Michael Crichton.
Chik,
Agreed and point noted!
Ferro,
Faking bills is a very normal thing. it is not done to get more money, sometimes we do it because we have lost the bills. i do it all the time. i fake bills all the time. I am not corrupted. i am just not well organised to keep the bills safe. if one day someone sexually harrasses me, if i report, they counter charge me with “faking bills” charge… do you think they are anywhere near “equivalent” to even reported sidebyside?
premalatha,
I agree with your view point. In this case, Anjali came up with sexual harassment charge only after she was accused of irregularities.
Thats it. Lets wait for further reports in this topic!
“And, pl. do not tell “she was charged first” thing… she might have been telling people for ex. boss/friend.. they get tipped off and they charged her first!!! These things happen. Sexually harrassed victims do not like to speak about it not just because of the culture thing, it is the abuse/victimisation effect in the victim.
Watch Law and order special victim unit. gives more insight into many similar cases”
Ithu wtich sitela unga comment parka munnaadiye pottathu
faking bills and sexual harrasment?
don’t you think it is toooo obvious what is going on. i can’t beleive people can think otherwise also!!
“witchyangel sitela” – typo mistake in previous comment
premalatha,
I guess everyone has said already what has to be said 
You are looking at one side of the coin and am looking at the other!!!
Am not going to say any further on this topic
I respect your decision. but, just one thing,
why would she plead guilty, if her motivation to charge “sexual harrasment” was only to get away from her being charged for financial irregularities?
I am not looking at one side of the coin. I have more exposure in similar cases.
Also, I know in military boss is always right, and complaining against officers in certain ranks itself is considered crime, without even enquiring into it. asking for an enquiry itself is a crime. I have no doubt that Anjali is going to be found guilty in her charges against her superior. I an put money on that now itself.
See “few good men” and “—’s daughter” I have forgotten this title..
oh just one more thing.
Anjali is the one who is being court martialled, in that sexual harrasment charge. Not that guy. there are two mutually exclusive results for the court martial.
anjali is right. ok she can go back to work.
anjali is wrong. send her home.
what about the guy against whom the complaint was made? chup!
btw,
An Indian Air Force court martial has recommended that Flying Officer Anjali Gupta be cashiered from service. ….. In armed forces’ parlance, “cashiering” is a more severe punishment than “dismissal”. A cashiered officer is denied the privileges of rank and post-service benefits. …………. The court martial has found Gupta guilty of five of seven charges brought against her. She was charged on five counts of financial embezzlement (amounting to Rs 1,080), insubordination, indiscipline, irregularity and conduct unbecoming of an officer. (Calcutta Telegraph)
see, what crime she has done!!
oops, the blod was supposed to be done for insubordination
above two comments are copied from here
http://www.lehigh.edu/~amsp/2005/12/anjali-gupta-vs-indian-air-force.html
(saving my a** from being charged against plagiarism)
“I am not corrupted. i am just not well organised to keep the bills safe”
Yeah rite…you fake bills you are wrong….if you cant keep bills safe..its your problem….generating fake bills is not the obvious solution….thats where corruption starts….
well, try yourself and tell me then.
or, anon,
should i say, it is good reason to sexually assualt and then terminate me from my job for crime of insubordination I have committed as well as financial irregularities and ..
bye
When you join the Army, Navy or Air Force – Indiscipline and Insubordination are serious crimes — you cannot behave like uma bharati there — if you want to a free bird should not join the forces. There is also a newsitem that the other charges have not been proved !!
Ram,
I totally agree, my question is would the punishment have been as severe if she hadn’t accused them of harrassment.
When you join the Army, Navy or Air Force – Indiscipline and Insubordination are serious crimes
so, not obliging to take off clothes and let him insert, is insubordination. I should agree. shouldn’t I.
oops again.
When you join the Army, Navy or Air Force – Indiscipline and Insubordination are serious crimes
so, not obeying to take off clothes and let him insert, is insubordination. I should agree. shouldn’t I.
We dont know what happened exactly….If her complaint of Sexual Harrasment proven wrong, then she deserves her punishment.
Premalatha,
i think the topic is done and dusted. Its getting nasty. Please show some restraint. I am open for argument as long as it is healthy and not nasty. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. You might agree. You might not. It ends there. No one gains anything by nasty comments !
insubordination does not cover non-official, personal and amoral demands, and if one were to ask me to defrock, uniform or no uniform I would have used my chappals — cashiering appears to be too severe a punishment for misappropriation or falsifying accounts, and not observing norms – there must be something else which has not surfaced so far — may be it will come out when the highcourt hears the case – let us wait
Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Anjali Gupta and you curse the corps. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Anjali’s court-martialled, while tragic, probably saved some pride. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because, deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said “thank you” and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand at post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
Sorry, couldn’t resist it. That was one of my all-time favourite movie scenes
Bulls Eye Maverick!
Your comment and ram’s comment summed up what I wanted to say!
Bravo Maverick. That and his performance in my other fave, As Good as it Gets, will probably brand anybody who refers to it as sexist.
Uma et al : You know what ? This media blitz will probably really hurt the women in service who are struggling to create a distinct identity without compromising on the Forces rules. And managing quite well, from all accounts. It is a lose-lose situation for the AF. If her charges are prove false, it’s a cover up. If they are proven true,they get no credit for a fair process, but get the stick well enough for what happened.
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