A former Ottawa police deputy chief has been charged with sexual assault involving a female officer under his supervision during work hours.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit charged former police deputy Uday Jaswal with a single count of sexual assault against one woman.
Jaswal had already resigned from the force amid numerous allegations of sexual harassment in 2022, including by a female civilian employee of the Ottawa Police Service, who notified the Ontario Special Investations Unit last March.
The agency launched an investigation into Jaswal, resulting in his arrest “by members of the SIU today and subsequently released on several conditions, including not to communicate with the woman, not to go within 100 metres of the woman,” according to an SIU release.
Additionally, Jaswal is not permitted to “possess a firearm, cross-bow, prohibited weapon, restricted weapon, prohibited device, ammunition, prohibited ammunition or explosive substance and to surrender those in his possession.”
The SIU confirmed that the most recent allegation involves an incident which occurred in 2011, while Jaswal was an OPS inspector and that the complainant was a female officer at the time.
However, Jaswal’s lawyer Ari Goldkind called the allegation “opportunistic” and “factually implausible.”
“The Special Investigations Unit for Ontario has chosen to charge Mr. Jaswal with an allegation that is both opportunistic and factually implausible after a 15-month delay and despite numerous requests for an update by counsel. The SIU has no objective evidence to support these allegations,” Goldkind told True North.
The OPS also released a statement on Tuesday to the Ottawa community following news of the charge becoming public.
“The Ottawa Police Service is mindful of the impact on the community and our members. We encourage anyone who needs support to reach out to available resources,” read the OPS release.
“We urge victims to report any such incident to police. Investigators will respect a victim’s wish to pursue or not pursue an investigation or criminal charges.”
Jaswal’s career with the OPS began in 1995 and he climbed the ranks to become deputy chief of both OPS as well as with Durham Regional Police Service.
He was hired as deputy police chief for Durham in 2016 before returning to Ottawa two years later after being recruited to the top ranks of the OPS.
The sexual misconduct complaints were made against Jaswal following his OPS promotion.
He faced at total of eight charges at the time of his resignation in 2022 under the Ontario Police Services Act, including discreditable conduct and insubordination.
Six of the charges were related to complaints brought forward by three female OPS colleagues of Jaswal and the other two charges were related to accusations of corruption and abuse of power stemming from his service with Durham Region.
However, all the charges were withdrawn by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission that same year on the basis of lost jurisdiction when Jaswal resigned from policing days before his scheduled hearing.
Initially, Jaswal was suspended with pay, beginning in 2020, he continued to collect over half a million dollars in salary before his resignation two years later.
He also faced a human rights complaint made by a civilian employee in 2019, wherein he was accused of unwanted advances and inappropriate touching.
That complaint in combination with complaints from two other female officers regarding sexual harassment dating back to 2008, formed the basis of the Ontario Civillian Poilice Commission investigation and charge.
“The public, once they hear what is actually being alleged, will be shocked that these spurious allegations received the SIU Director’s seal of approval,” said Goldkind.
“ Mr. Jaswal will fully and vigorously defend against this false accusation, and we will be seeking the earliest possible trial. There will be more to come.”
Jaswal is scheduled to appear in court on July 18.
