Visakhapatnam: Allaying fears of sexual harassment on board naval vessel in deep seas, a US Navy Chaplain, a religious officer, has said it is safe for women to sail with men in times of war and peace.
Talking to Deccan Chronicle at the Milan village in the naval dockyard area here after defence minister Rajnath Singh formally inaugurated Milan, the officer said there was a mechanism in place to deal with sexual harassment cases.
“Whenever a case is reported, a phase wise process is initiated and the offender is taken to task. The punishment is the same for women who harass men,’’ the chaplain who did not want to be identified said.
The chaplain sailed on USS Halsey which is participating in Milan-24. The interaction was done in the backdrop of Indian woman officers boarding the naval ships.
Recently recruited Indian women commissioned officers said they were having a positive attitude and strongly believed that men were gender sensitized enough to deal with woman officers on board.
“When we are on a mission, we don’t expect such things to happen on board,’’ they said.
In the US, sexual assault reporting by service members increased around 1 per cent between Fiscal Year 2021 and 2022.
