Chennai, Sep 28 The Indian Air Force (IAF) has petitioned the additional Mahila court in Coimbatore, seeking trial of the rape-accused flight lieutenant as per the Air Force rules.
The petition was filed on Monday.
Flight lieutenant Amitesh Harmukh (29) was alleged to have raped a colleague in the Air Force administrative college at Red Fields in Coimbatore. Air Force argued before the court that it would conduct the investigation on the allegation and to court-martial the officer.
The court extended the judicial custody of flight lieutenant Amitesh Harmukh (29), who was arrested and lodged in the Udumalpet jail following an allegation of rape of a fellow officer at the IAF Administrative college at Red Fields in the city. The judicial custody of the officer is extended till September 30.
During the argument, N. Sundarvadivelu, counsel for Amitesh Harmukh filed a petition before the additional Mahila court judge Thilageswari and said that the police does not have any territorial jurisdiction to probe the case as the incident had taken place within the Air Force campus.
Officials from the Indian Air Force also filed a petition before the court arguing that they wanted to conduct a detailed investigation and to court martial him.
The prosecution objected to it and said that even after the victim had filed a complaint immediately after the reported incident on September 10, the Air Force failed to act on the complaint of the survivor. The IAF countered the police and said that the incident took place within the IAF campus and that both the accused and the victim are officers in the Air Force.
The counsel for IAF argued that Amitesh would be tried under the Air Force Act and could not be arrested under the civilian law. The court after hearing both sides extended the judicial custody till September 30.
The rape survivor, who is also a Flight lieutenant, appeared before the court.
The victim had complained to the All woman central police station at Coimbatore on September 24. In the complaint, she said that she had an injury while playing a game and had taken medication, and was sleeping in her room on September 10, when she was raped by Amitesh Harmukh.
She said that even after she lodged a complaint with the IAF on the same day, no action was taken and after waiting for 14 days, she filed a petition before the woman police station. The Coimbatore central police acted swiftly and arrested Amitesh.
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