Father of woman sexually assaulted at Bhubaneswar police station demands dismissal of cops

BHUBANESWAR: The father of the woman, who was sexually assaulted at a police station in Bhubaneswar, on Friday demanded the arrest and dismissal of the cops for taking the law into their hands.

The woman's father, who is a retired brigadier, said: "The police personnel have violated several laws by putting an army officer in the lock up, physically assaulting him, sexually harassing my daughter."

While condemning the September 15 incident at the Bharatpur police station in the state capital where his daughter was allegedly subjected to sexual assault, the father said: "They (cops) have not just committed crime, rather their acts can be termed as heinous crime. They must be punished."

The father demanded the arrest and dismissal of the accused police personnel for violating the law of the land.

"They (police) too have come up with a false narrative and arrested my daughter. My daughter was sexually assaulted in custody. She suffered bruises on her face and body," he said.

The woman’s father also appealed to the state government and the police to sensitise the low ranking police personnel on how to behave with women.

He also urged the state government to set an example by punishing the police personnel. "Other police personnel across the state should get a lesson from the punishment from this case," the father said.

Former Odisha chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik said, "Who gave the right to the police to thrash a girl? If there are no cops for night patrolling, what's the government doing then? So much money is being spent on different schemes, but why money is not being spent on public security."

The former chief secretary also demands stringent action against the Bharatpur police station inspector in charge. "Even if steps are being taken for women's empowerment, they are unsafe," he said.

The army officer posted in West Bengal and his fiancé had approached Bharatpur Police Station early on Sunday to lodge a complaint of road rage in which they were allegedly harassed by some local youths.

At the police station, the duo got engaged in a quarrel with the personnel over the registration of an FIR.

The woman, who was arrested in Bhubaneswar for allegedly misbehaving with the police, claimed that she was sexually assaulted after being taken into custody.

She was on Thursday released on bail granted by the high court.

The woman, who is at present undergoing treatment at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, said some more personnel arrived at the police station on that night and asked her friend to write a complaint.