By IANS,
New Delhi : The Indian Army is probing charges that one of its
doctors allegedly duped a young Afghan woman into wedlock despite being
married, a senior army official said Tuesday.
A day after Kabul resident Sabra Khan met Home Minister P.C. Chidambaram
here seeking permission to prosecute Major Chandrashekhar Pant, the Indian
Army said that a probe has already been initiated into the charge.
“The matter is under investigation and further action will be taken based on
the facts emerging from it,” Director General of Medical Services (Army) Lt.
Gen. N.K. Parmar told reporters here.
He was speaking ahead of the 245th anniversary of the Army Medical Corps.
“The complaint has come through the ministry of external affairs and it is
already in the knowledge of the (Lucknow-based) Central Command (in whose
jurisdiction the incident allegedly occurred),” Parmar said.
Sabra Khan was Monday assured by Chidambaram that he would look into the
matter and initiate appropriate action.
According to Sabra, she worked with the Indian Mission in Kabul, when she
married Pant for whom she had worked as a translator in 2006.
The doctor had converted to Islam to marry her and changed his name to
Himmat Khan but did not reveal his actual marital status, claimed Sabra, who
is in India for the past one month to seek justice.
Sabra said she came to India last month and went to meet the Major at the
Army hospital at Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, but did not get a favourable
response from him.
The police, with whom she registered a complaint in Dehradun, expressed
their inability to take any action without the permission of the central
government as the alleged offence had been committed outside the Indian
territory.
Sabra Khan claimed that after staying with her for 15 days, the doctor left
for India on a posting.
“Khan has alleged that she had received calls from Pant till six months
after he had left. During the last call, Pant told her he had a wife and two
children in India,” Parmar said.
Supported by some independent organisations here, Sabra Khan also registered
a complaint with the National Commission for Women, which is yet to respond
to her plea.