Army officer dismissed from service for outraging modesty of colleague

A Summary General Court Martial (SGCM) of the Army has sentenced a Lieutenant to be dismissed from service after holding him guilty of assault with intention of outraging the modesty of a woman officer. The court martial began at a military station under Army’s 15 Corps in Jammu & Kashmir in August 2026 and the verdict was delivered on November 11.

The convicted officer has barely two years in service while the victim officer was freshly commissioned. The Lieutenant was charged under Section 69 of the Army Act which deals with civil offences committed by military personnel along with Section 74 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Section 74 of the BNS corresponds to the former Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), dealing with the offense of assault or use of criminal force against a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty. The incident which led to the court martial took place in J&K in November 2025 at an undisclosed location in a regiment belonging to the Army Air Defence Corps.

The prosecution’s case was that on the day of the incident a birthday party of the victim had been held in which all single male and female officers had participated. It was alleged that the accused officer entered the room of the victim officer where she was asleep and lay down atop her.

The accused officer in his defence stated that he had no knowledge of the incident as he was under the influence of alcohol and he could not remember any such act done by him. The SGCM, which was presided upon by an officer of the rank of Colonel, with a woman Lt Colonel and a Major as members, came to the conclusion that while the primary allegation was proved the related allegations was not supported by evidence.

Accordingly, the accused officer was sentenced to dismissal from service and was not sentenced to any rigorous imprisonment as is given out in Section 74 of BNS which prescribed imprisonment ranging from one to five years.

The findings of the court martial are subject to confirmation by the higher authorities, which in this case would be the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Northern Command.