Odisha ‘Custody Torture’ Case: GoC Seeks Orissa HC Chief Justice’s Intervention

Bhubaneswar The General Officer Commanding of Madhya Bharat area, Lt General Padam Singh Sekhawat, has sought intervention of Orissa High Court Chief Justice in the alleged custody assault of an Army officer’s fiancée in Bhubaneswar.

In a letter Lt General Sekhawat stated, “The prestige of a serving Army Officer was demeaned and the modesty and dignity of his fiancée, who happens to be the daughter of a retired Brigadier, was grossly outraged by the police authorities…The police authorities and their purported statements are manipulative and aimed at concealing police brutality on the lady and the officer.”

Lt General Sekhawat, the administrative head for six states including Odisha, met Orissa HC Chief Justice on Thursday and apprised him of the situation. The GoC for Madhya Bharat also met DG Police YB Khurania and Additional DG Arun Bothra and discussed the case in detail.

He had requested the ex-servicemen not to resort to agitation for long time as the case was being followed up appropriately by the CID-CB of Odisha police.

The alleged assault and arrest of the woman by Odisha police personnel have evoked massive reaction across the country. The army officer and his woman friend had approached the police after being ‘harassed’ by miscreants indulged in rash driving past midnight on Saturday.

While the police assault that allegedly took place in Bharatpur police station (on outskirts of Odisha capital) is being probed by the Crime Branch, the National Commission for Women has taken suo motu cognisance and written to DGP Odisha requesting action taken report within 3 days.

Also Read: Road Rage: Seven Detained For Attacking Army Officer & Fiancée In Bhubaneswar