Five naval personnel arrested for assault

Five Indian navy personnel were arrested for assaulting a native in South Goa, after they suspected him of abusing the daughter of their uniformed colleague, a police spokesperson said on Thursday.

Police said that patrolmen Amit Jaiswal, Jitendra Singh, Shamlal Pakshak, Rajnesh Pachar, led by commandant Anupam Sharma, were arrested late on Wednesday in connection with the assault on Atul Dicholkar, a resident of Vasco, a port town, located 35 km from Panaji.

The navy personnel are posted at INS Hansa, an Indian naval air station, in Goa.

"The navy personnel suspected that the complainant had abused a minor daughter of their colleague on Tuesday. So they accosted and assaulted him together," a police spokesperson said.

The victim is currently hospitalised at the Goa Medical College, a state-run facility, with grievous injuries.

The accused have been booked under different sections of the Indian Penal Code and are currently in custody.

A statement issued by the Indian Navy late on Thursday said that the complainant had followed the girl, who was returning from school, and had made obscene gestures and had also stripped his trouser before her.

"The girl's mother filed an FIR at Vasco Police Station against the then unidentified man. The following morning, five personnel of Naval Police including her father visited the scene of incident accompanied by the girl. The girl identified the accused man

who was waiting at the same spot on his yellow and white motorcycle," the statement said.

The Indian Navy in its statement has maintained that a counter FIR was filed by the accused against the five naval personnel, falsely implicating them.

"A counter FIR falsely accusing the five naval personnel of assaulting the youth has been filed by the mother of the accused on Oct 19. The case is presently under investigation by Vasco Police," the statement said.

--IANS

maya/rn