Bhubaneswar: A DIG-rank official of the Odisha Police, Brijesh Kumar Rai, landed in a soup after a woman home guard lost her two legs in a suicide attempt after allegedly being tortured and humiliated by his wife.
The victim, Souridri Sahu of Angul district, is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Cuttack.
In a letter to Homeguard DG Sudhanshu Sarangi, she accused Rai’s wife of beating and humiliating her for negligence in household works. The victim alleged that she dragged her out of the house holding her neck and abused her on August 4 when she expressed her inability to wash some clothes due to an injury in her leg. The humiliation and repeated threats to dismiss her from the job prompted her to end her lief by jumping in front of a moving train.
“Hearing these words I was under severe mental stress. I decided to end my life and went straight to the nearby railway tracks. While I was standing on the tracks, I fell down due to the vibration caused by an approaching train and fell outside the tracks. However, my legs got crushed under the wheel of the train. When I regained my sense I found myself in a hospital bed,” she said in her letter.
While demanding compensation of Rs 5 lakh and home guard job for her elder daughter, she also alleged that efforts were being made to suppress the entire matter.
She has not filed any police complaint in this regard.
Rai, however, attributed the victim’s drastic action to mental distress. “She was going through a lot of anguish in her personal life. She was often distracted while on duty and was worried about her elder daughter. She also had health concerns. She was also grieving her nephew’s death. We had even asked her opt for some other work if she was unhappy here,” he told the media.
“We have never mistreated her. Someone might have instigated her to go against us,” he added.
Souridri’s daughter Suchismita, however, dismissed Rai’s claims of family issue being the reason for her mother’s suicide attempt. She told a local channel her mother had been upset due to the torture being inflicted upon her by Rai’s wife. Unable to come to terms with the stress, she decided to end her life, Suchismita added.
A widow, Souridri is living with her two daughters.
“The government will bear the expenses towards the treatment of the woman. The allegations levelled by her will also be looked into. We will speak to her once she is discharged from the hospital. Subsequently, necessary action will be taken,” said the Homeguard DG.
A 2009-batch IPS officer hailing from Mau district of Uttar Pradesh, Rai was promoted and transferred as DIG, Angul, in December last year.
