The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a writ petition filed by the wife of a naval officer, alleging wife-swapping in the force and rape by senior officers.
A Bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Shiva Kirti Singh also stayed further probe, launched pursuant to a FIR registered against the woman as well as a probe being conducted by the Navy. It issued notice to her husband and 12 others. The petitioner said she was a victim of rape and torture at the hands of her husband, in-laws and his colleagues. Her husband had even lodged a false FIR, with the connivance of highly placed officials in the Navy and in the office of the Defence Minister, against her in order to deter her from pursuing the rape case, the woman alleged..
Recalling her agony, the petitioner, who got married on March 9, 2012, alleged that on many occasions her husband compelled her to participate in “wife swapping” parties and when she refused, tortured her mentally and physically. She was subjected to the most humiliating and traumatic ordeal at the Kochi naval base when his friends, colleagues and superiors physically and sexually assaulted her in his very presence. Though she registered a case, there was no entry of the charge of rape; neither she nor the culprits were medically examined, nor were the offenders taken into custody. Crucial evidence such as clothes was not taken into possession, the petitioner said and sought a CBI probe
