Assault on Uzbek woman: 2 Customs officials suspended

Two senior Customs officials posted at Delhi airport have been suspended for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman from Uzbekistan who was visiting India for medical treatment of a relative, officials said.

The matter came to light last month when a complaint was lodged by a whistleblower with the senior officials at the airport. Subsequently, they started a probe.

Meanwhile, a pseudonymous complaint was also emailed to the office of revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, informing him about the incident. The complainant, citing a brief detail of the case, requested the revenue secretary that the matter be looked into with utmost priority.

Giving details of the case, they said that one of the accused officials stopped the Uzbek woman upon her arrival from Tashkent on May 3 to check her baggage for any suspected smuggled goods.

He then took her to a room, which had no CCTV camera, and spent about half an hour there without being accompanied by any female officer.

It is alleged that the superintendent, who is in his early 50s, sexually assaulted the woman, who had come for the treatment of her sister’s child admitted at a private hospital in Delhi, the officials said.

While enquiring into the allegations against the superintendent, the role of another officer of the same rank came to the notice of the authorities. The duo was then suspended by the customs department pending a detailed probe.