Anger grows over ‘assault, molestation’ of Army officer’s fiancée in police station, Odisha CM Majhi assures ‘exemplary punishment’

In a post on X, the Chief Minister’s Office said, “As the incident is very sensitive, the Crime Branch has been directed to investigate the incident immediately and submit a report within the specified time frame. As soon as the investigation report is received, the culprits will be given exemplary punishment. The government has a zero-tolerance policy against violence against women. Harassment of women will not be tolerated in any form.”

Opposition parties BJD and Congress have stepped up their attack on the BJP government over the incident.

Calling for “strictest legal punishment” to the culprits, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, said: “The horrific incident that happened in Odisha has raised serious questions on the law and order situation in the country… This heinous incident is a shame on all of humanity. Under the BJP government, crimes against women have become completely uncontrolled and unbridled. When injustice thrives and finds shelter within the government system itself, then from whom should the common citizen look for help?”

Former Odisha chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik demanded “full judicial inquiry” into the matter.

“The way an Army major and his fiancée were treated at the police station is shocking and beyond comprehension. The manner in which police have allegedly treated them has shaken the conscience of the country. BJD strongly condemns this heinous act and expects the BJP government to take the strongest possible action against all those involved,” said Patnaik.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also condemned the incident and criticised the BJP.

“BJP governments across the country are working on the policy of turning the police from protectors to predators. In BJP governments, the criminal attitude of the police towards crimes against women actually flourishes by getting protection from those in power,” she said in a post on X.

Former Union minister V K Singh also took to social media and called on the Odisha Chief Minister to take “immediate action against the police personnel and all who are trying to shield the criminals in police uniform”.

Meanwhile, seeking the intervention of Chief Justice of Orissa High Court into the matter, the Army’s General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Madhya Bharat Area, Lieutenant General P S Shekhawat, wrote in a letter that “the prestige of a serving Army officer was demeaned”. He said the modesty and dignity of his fiancée, who also happens to be a daughter of a retired Brigadier, was “grossly outraged by the police authorities”.

“The police action and their purported statements are manipulative and aimed at concealing the police brutality on the lady and the officer,” he said in the letter dated September 18.