New Delhi, May 20: Separate complaints by two women officers in quick succession that they have been harassed by their seniors have shamed army headquarters, which has ordered proceedings against two colonels and a major.

A second case of a lady officer, a captain, complaining against a senior, a lieutenant colonel, has come to light this week in Nagrota, Jammu, within two days of a charge against two officers in Punjab.

Army headquarters is not releasing the details of the charges but today said a lady officer has “filed a complaint for alleged harassment against Lieutenant Colonel Virendar Mohan and not sexual assault”. Nagrota is the headquarters of the army’s 16 Corps.

Women are recruited into the army on short-service commission primarily to make up for the shortage in the officer cadre because the force cannot find suitable male candidates in adequate number. With such charges, army headquarters is worried that it will tell on the recruitment. There is a shortage of more than 11,000 officers in the army.

The women are almost always posted to non-combatant offices.

Army sources today said an investigation is on into the charges made by the captain, “and if any substance is found in the complaint, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken”.

In the first case, where a lieutenant complained against a colonel and a major, the sources said: “There was absolutely no complaint of rape because such an incident had not occurred.” The charges against Colonel Mitra and Major Nowhar are misbehaviour, harassment and victimisation.

This is the first time the army has admitted that lady officers have levelled allegations of sexual harassment against seniors.