The woman was in the hot tub of a Civic apartment block with her colleagues on Sunday afternoon when they were joined by a man they did not know, Ivan Bruno Kovacic, 50.

Mr Kovacic, who works with the federal police in Canberra, later invited the group to his apartment to drink some craft beer.

Police will allege the officer started dancing around one of the other men playfully punching him in the body until landing a more serious blow to the face.

In self-defence, the man punched Mr Kovacic once in the face, causing him to fall over and bleed from the eye, police say.

The woman helped Mr Kovacic to his feet and to the bedroom before she left to get some towels to clean up the blood.

When she returned, police will allege Mr Kovacic pulled out his penis and forced the woman's hand to rub it.

The woman froze but eventually was able to pull her hand away.

Police will allege that Mr Kovacic pulled her on top of him and pulled her pants down before she was able to get away.

One of her colleagues later reported what happened and Mr Kovacic was arrested and charged with committing an act of indecency.

He appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday sporting a deep purple bruise under his left eye and was granted bail on a series of strict conditions, including that he not drink alcohol.

He has not entered pleas.

The court heard Mr Kovacic had received some five commendations during his 20-year career with the federal police and before then had served in the Australian army.

In a media release following his arrest, police said they were assessing whether to suspend the officer from work.

On Tuesday, police said they had decided to suspend him.