Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)
Kundapur, Apr 23: The licence of Dreamz Scuba Diving which was functioning from Murdeshwar in Uttara Kannada district has been cancelled, following a complaint of sexual harassement by a woman against one of its scuba diving instructor.
A charge sheet has already been filed against the accused instructor, Dhirendra Rawat, alleging that he sexually assaulted her underwater during scuba diving training at Shiroor. Rawat is also said to be the executive director of Dreamz Diving.
Earlier this year, a woman working as software engineer in a Bengaluru-based IT firm had come to Shiroor along with some of her colleagues to get training in scuba diving. On January 26, Dhirendra Rawat, a native of Uttarakhand, who works as trainer of 'Dreamz Scuba Diving' firm which is being run in Murdeshwar, had come to Shiroor to give this training. On that day, Rawat reportedly sexually harassed the woman during the training, and the police had arrested him on the basis of a complaint lodged by her.
The matter came to public notice only after the woman narrated the alleged ordeal on her blog. In the blog dated February 5, 2015, she states, "This one particular monster, my personal SCUBA diving instructor from the ‘Dreamz Diving’ organization, clasped my palm tight and led me away from our boat...." "We were all told to give our instructors the ‘OK’ signal underwater every few minutes to let them know that we were alright. As we started the dive, the feeling of self-contained breathing underwater overwhelmed me. The excitement of my first SCUBA dive diverted my attention from the wrong that was happening to me for the first few minutes."
She further wrote: "The monster had my breathing equipment in his control and my oxygen tank in his hands. As we swam across the corals... his hands were no longer on my diving equipment. First one hand, then the other and finally both. I cringed in shock. I tried to shake his hands away from my body but in vain. The shock slowly turned to fright when his hands began to move across my body. 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. I was aghast and tried to think fast. I tried to break free but the grasp was too tight. He then signaled asking me if I was okay. I signaled with an ‘OK’. 12 meters below sea level, with my breathing equipment under this monster’s control, I didn’t dare show any fear...For the next 40 minutes, this monster took complete advantage of my silence and my helplessness. His hands found their way to every part of my body but they chose to stop only at a few. They pulled me closer to him, caressed me and violated me. All I could do was signal him with an ‘OK’."
The woman further wrote that after they reached the shore, she gathered her friends and other diving instructors and made the accused instructor admit his act. "I asked him again, why he groped me underwater. He trembled, fumbled and said a few words that sounded like ‘sorry’, ‘by mistake’ and ‘loose equipment’...I asked him to admit to his act and tell me that it wasn’t just a mistake but an intentional act of molestation. He did so without any hesitation," she said in her blog.
Apart from cancelling the licence of the firm, a rowdy sheet has been opened in the name of Rawat in Byndoor police station, the district police department said. The police have also asked other women who have suffered such harassment to come forward and file complaints so that suitable action can be taken.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the accused Dhirendra Rawat has been released on bail and is still working as a diving instructor even though he has been barred by the district administration.
This was not the first such case facing Rawat. In two earlier incidents too, women had accused him of sexually harassing them underwater during scuba diving training. The first of these two incidents took place in last November, off the Malpe coast in Udupi. In the second incident, a Punjabi doctor lodged a complaint against him in Byndoor police station, on similar charges. He was arrested and released on bail.