Odisha: Army officer and his fiancée allegedly abused, assaulted and the woman molested by cops inside police station in Bhubaneswar, 5 police officers suspended

The couple were allegedly assaulted by police personnel at the station when they had gone to lodge a complaint against some youths in a road rage incident

A dreadful incident of attack on an army officer and molestation of his fiancee by cops inside a police station has come to the fore from the state of Odisha. The woman was forcefully locked in the police station and assaulted at Bhubaneswar’s Bharatpur police station by a few female officers and later she was also sexually molested by the inspector-in-charge (IIC) of the Police Station in police custody on 15th September. At the same time, the army officer was also locked up and assaulted by cops. This happened after the couple went to the police station to report a crime.

The incident came to light after the Odisha HC granted her bail in the case and ordered an investigation into the case. “As I was screaming for help, the inspector in charge of the police station came around 6 am,” she claimed, saying that he lowered her pants, displayed his private parts, and abused her in filthy language.

The couple was allegedly beaten by police officers at the station when they went to file a complaint against three adolescents involved in a road rage incident. The court has already taken a severe stance on the case and ordered action.

“Around 1 am on September 15, when I was heading home after closing down my restaurant, a group of youths stopped our car and tried to scuffle with us. After we managed to get into the car, we went to the Bharatpur police station to lodge an FIR, where a lady constable was sitting at the reception wearing a nighty,” the woman alleged while speaking to reporters at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

Narrating her claimed ordeal, she said she asked the female officer who was in a nightgown to file a complaint or send a patrol to find the adolescents who blocked her way. “The lady officer didn’t help me; rather she misbehaved with us. When I tried to tell her that I am a lawyer and it’s her duty to file an FIR, she fumed at me. Moments later, another lady officer and other staff reached the police station in a patrol vehicle. They allowed (my fiance) to write a complaint, but I don’t know why they put him in custody immediately,” she claimed.

She stated that when she told them that they couldn’t throw an Army officer behind the bar, the two female police dragged her hair and began abusing her. “I requested them to stop but they continued to drag me on the corridors of the police station. I tried 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 scarf of a lady constable and put me inside a room. After some time, a male officer came and tried to kick me on my breasts continuously after removing my inner,” she alleged.

In his complaint to the additional director general, the Crime Branch, which is currently investigating the case, the Army officer also claimed that when his fiancée demanded the arrest warrant from police authorities, she was pulled into a room, stripped, and attacked by four men and three women police officers, including the IIC. “The IIC sexually harassed and molested my fiancée and I could hear the screams for 30 minutes,” he alleged.

The Army officer further said that while he was making the complaint, four police officers grabbed him and pulled him into one of the cells, where they stripped his pants and took all of his belongings, including his wallet, phone, Army identity card, and car keys. “I was locked up inside the cell illegally at 3 am,” the complainant claimed.

Meanwhile, former CM Naveen Patnaik demanded a judicial inquiry into this grave incident against an Army Major and the lady. “The way an Army Major and a lady were treated in Bharatpur Police Station is shocking and beyond comprehension. How police have allegedly treated them has shaken the conscience of the country. This has happened to a serving Army Officer and a lady in Odisha,” he said.

The Odisha Police has suspended five officers, including Dinakrushna Mishra, the station’s inspector-in-charge. The National Commission for Women has also taken suo motu cognizance of the claims and requested an action report.