A retired Indian high court judge will investigate allegations that a woman was physically and sexually assaulted by a group of police inside a police station in the eastern state of Odisha, the authorities say.
After the allegations, levelled last week by the 32-year-old woman and her fiancé – an army officer – led to a huge outcry, four police officials, including three women, were suspended. A fifth policeman was transferred. The action came after the state’s crime branch opened an inquiry into the case.
Warning: This report contains details some may find distressing.
A video of the woman, a law graduate who runs a restaurant in the state capital Bhubaneswar, detailing her alleged abuse by police early on the morning of 15 September has been shared many times on social media.
The footage makes for a difficult watch.
In a wheelchair, with a collar around her neck and one arm in a sling, the woman repeatedly breaks down while narrating to journalists what she says happened to her.
She said she had gone to Bharatpur police station with her fiance after closing her restaurant at around 01:00 because they had been harassed by a group of men on the road.
They asked police to send a patrol car quickly to intercept the men who couldn’t have gone far, she said.
“The police refused to take down our complaint, instead they abused us. When I told them that I was a law graduate and knew my rights, they got even more angry.”
Subrat Kumar Pati People gathered outside the police headquarters to protest against the alleged sexual assault of a woman in police custody.Subrat Kumar Pati
Former defence officials and activists have held protests against the alleged assault in Bhubaneswar
The situation escalated after the police put her fiance in the lockup, she alleged.
“When I objected, two female officials started pulling my hair and beating me. I kept pleading with them to stop. But they dragged me through the corridor and one of them tried to strangle me. When I fought back, they tied my hands and legs and locked me up in a room,” she said, sobbing.
“One male officer came in and took off my bra and started kicking me in my breasts. At around 06:00, the officer in charge of the police station came into the room. He pulled my pants down. Then he lowered his pants and threatened to rape me multiple times unless I stopped screaming for help,” she alleged.
Reports in the Indian media last week quoted police as saying the army officer and his fiancee had arrived at the station drunk and the woman had been aggressive. They alleged that she had slapped a policewoman and bitten another officer.
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She was arrested and a magistrate placed her in custody.
But three days after the alleged assault, the high court freed the woman on bail and criticised the police and the lower court that jailed her.
“On careful examination of the record, it appears that the allegations are very serious in nature… They are anathema to the very concept of a democratic and orderly society,” Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra said, adding that the “police had failed to follow the procedure laid down in law while arresting her”.
“Drastic action has been taken against the erring police officers… and appropriate action shall be taken against those found guilty,” the judge’s order said.
The magistrate had also “failed to apply their judicial mind” in denying the woman bail, Justice Mohapatra added.
BBC
