The Odisha Police has suspended five officers, including the Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) of Bharatpur Police Station in Bhubaneswar, following allegations of assault and harassment against an Indian Army officer and his fiancée. The officers suspended are IIC Dinakrushna Mishra, Sub-Inspector Baisalini Panda, Assistant Sub-Inspectors Salilamayee Sahoo and Sagarika Rath, and Constable Balaram Handa.
The incident has drawn significant outrage, specially among retired Army officials, who are calling for stronger actions against the accused. In accordance with reports, the Army officer and his fiancée went to the Bharatpur police station to file a complaint about being harassed in a road rage incident. In place of receiving help, the couple become allegedly subjected to torture by the police. The woman become reportedly jailed without justification, and both she and the Army officer were physically assaulted.
“When I was once once going home after closing my restaurant at 1 am within the night on September 15, some miscreants in a vehicle waylaid us and tried to fight with us. After indirectly escaping from them, we went to Bharatpur police station to file an FIR regarding the incident.” “when we reached the police station handiest a lady constable become there, in civil dress”, and she refused to aid us, the Army officer’s friend told reporters.
In accordance with the girl, after the constable began verbally abusing her, some more police officers, male officers this time, arrived on the scene and asked her partner for a written statement.
“I requested her a pair of times to lodge my FIR as they (the hooligans) may in all probability again follow us. So, I needed her to accept my FIR or send the patrol team. She failed to aid me, as a substitute hurled abuses at me. When I told her that I am a lawyer and it’s her duty to lodge the FIR, she got along with angry with me,” added the girl friend of the Army officer.
The fiancée of the Army officer accused the police of severe misconduct, including verbal abuse and physical assault by both male and female officers. The Army officer also claimed that he become forcibly detained, stripped of his belongings, and placed in a jail cell.
The Army officer also alleged that after he become writing the complaint, four police officers held him and dragged him to one amongst of the cells, where they removed his pants and took all his belongings, including his wallet, phone, Army identity card and car keys.
“I requested them to keep away from but they continued to pull me on the corridors of the police station. I attempted to fight back. When a lady constable tried to throttle me, I bit her hand. They tied my hands with my jacket and my legs with the headband of a lady constable, and put me inside a room,” she alleged.
“After a while, a male officer opened the doors and kicked on my breasts a couple of times…” she said, alleging he also dropped his pants and forcibly removed hers. She also said the Inspector-in-charge of the police station made obscene gestures.
During the hearing bail hearing within the Orissa HC, the counsel appearing for the petitioner stated that the petitioner become brutally assaulted by the police personnel at Bharatpur station, resulting from which she has sustained grievous injury. On the idea that of the verbal order of the Orissa high court on Tuesday, the victim become shifted to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, where she become undergoing treatment.
As her bail plea become earlier rejected by a lower court, the High Court also observed that “the learned magistrate has failed to make use of his/her judicial mind and has acted in a mechanical manner”. The court granted bail to the petitioner on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 30,000.
(with inputs from agencies)
