Udupi, Apr 23: The Udupi district administration has cancelled the licence of Dreamz Scuba Diving operating from Shiroor near here, after one of its instructors allegedly molested a female techie.
Meanwhile, the Udupi district police have opened a rowdy-sheet against a scuba diving instructor, who has been charged with the molestation of a 23-year-old Bengaluru-based software engineer near Shiroor Beach near Byndoor on January 26.
Once on the shore, Ms. Raman and her friends confronted the instructor and he was unable to give a satisfactory response. They lodged a complaint at the Byndoor Police Station and a case was registered under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty). Rawat was arrested and produced before the court in Kundapur.
Ms. Raman has narrated her ordeal on the media platform ‘Youth Ki Awaaz’. She had to suffer molestation for about 40 minutes under the sea. She writes: “Sometime during those rounds between the courts and the police stations, we were informed by one of the officers that this was the second such report against him in the last one-and-a-half month. On doing some research, we found that there were many such unreported cases against the same man for the same crime. It was appalling.”
Meanwhile, in a press release issued here, the district police said that if any person had suffered in such a case, they should immediately inform the police.
The police said that the woman, a native of Andhra Pradesh, initially approached the police in Murudeshwara on January 26 and filed a complaint. Superintendent of Police K. Annamalai said that Rawat was out on bail. The trial was on in the court in Kundapur. The next hearing was on May 6. “We have opened a rowdy sheet against him in all the police stations of Udupi district. Both the accused and the firm are from Goa,” he said.
12 meters below sea level!
The victim recently recounted the horror of the underwater attack in a blog post. She wrote: “We were all told to give our instructors the ‘OK’ signal underwater every few minutes to let them know that we were alright. We descended underwater… and finally reached the sea bed. My instructor had my breathing equipment in his control and my oxygen tank in his hands. But as we swam across the corals… at the very bottom of the Arabian Sea, his hands were no longer on my diving equipment.”
“First one hand, then the other and finally both… I tried to shake his hands away from my body but in vain… I looked in his direction in despair but couldn’t see him. After all, he was right behind me with both his hands groping me… He then signalled asking me if I was okay. I signalled with an ‘OK’. 12 meters below sea level, with my breathing equipment under his control, I didn’t dare show any fear,” she wrote.
Describing the alleged ordeal, she said that after unsuccessfully trying to break out of his clutches “all I could do was signal him with an ‘OK’ because more than anything else, I wanted to get back to the boat and to my friends, safe and sound. For the next 40 minutes, he took complete advantage of my silence and my helplessness…”
She claims once back on the shore, she confronted the diver with what he had done and with the support of her friends made him confess. She also claims that she has a video of him confessing following which she lodged a police complaint.
The victim alleges in the blog that despite charges against him, Ravath continues to operate as a diving instructor by adopting a new identity. Byndoor police said that despite a ban, scuba diving was being conducted along the Karnataka coast.
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