Tied up, kicked on the chest, molested by inspector-in-charge: Army officer’s fiancée on ordeal inside Odisha police station

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. The court has already taken a stern view of 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, where she is admitted.

Narrating her alleged ordeal, she said she requested the woman officer to lodge a complaint or to send a patrol to spot the youths.

“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 alleged that when she told them that they cannot put an Army officer behind bars, the two women officers dragged her hair and started assaulting 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 compliant to the additional director general, Crime Branch, which is now probing the matter, the Army officer also alleged that when his fiancée demanded the arrest warrant from the police authorities, she was dragged into a room, stripped and assaulted 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 also alleged that when he was writing the complaint, four police officers held him and dragged him to one of the cells, where they removed his pants and took all his belongings, including his wallet, phone, Army identity card and car keys. “I was locked up inside the cell illegally at 3 am,” he alleged.

The Odisha Police has so far suspended five police personnel, including Dinakrushna Mishra, the inspector-in-charge of the police station.

The National Commission for Women has also taken suo motu cognizance of the allegations and sought an action taken report.