3 arrested for harassing woman during hartal in state capital

Bhubaneswar: Commissionerate Police on Tuesday arrested three persons, including a juvenile, for allegedly harassing a young woman and damaging her scooter at Delta Square here during the five-hour hartal called by the ruling BJD the previous day.

They were taken into custody on the basis of a CCTV footage. However, the number of arrests in connection with the incident may rise with a case under Sections 143, 147, 294, 323, 354, 341, 506 and 149 of IPC registered at Khandagiri police station, police sources said.

The woman was seen arguing with a group of youths, who surrounded her while staging a blockade during the hartal and stopped her from proceeding to her destination. Her vehicle was also damaged.

The city witnessed several violent incidents during the protest by BJD against fuel price hike. Another woman Sagarika Kar of Khurda alleged that her car was damaged by unruly protesters while she was on way to a hospital here with her father-in-law, a cancer patient. In a tweet tagging CM, she wrote, “Dear CM, I am a woman. I was taking my father-in-law to a hospital. Your party workers attacked and damaged my car. You lost my respect.”