Woman Home Guard Torture: BJP Moves Odisha Governor For Action Against IPS Officer, Wife & Jobs To Victim’s Daughters

Bhubaneswar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday met Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal and sought his intervention to ensure justice to a woman home guard who was allegedly tortured by the wife of a senior IPC officer.

A delegation of state BJP leaders met the Governor at Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar and informed him about the agony of the woman home guard who has blamed DIG of Police Brijesh Rai’s wife for her suicide bid in which she lost both her limbs.

Accusing the state government of trying to cover up the incident by transferring the DIG from Angul to the state police headquarters, state BJP vice president Lekhashree Samantsinghar told reporters that action must be taken against the IPS officer and his wife.

This apart, two daughters of the victim should be given jobs, she said justice must be delivered to the victim.

The woman home guard, Souridri Sahu, has brought serious allegations against the wife of DIG Rai and claimed that she lost both her legs in a suicide attempt after failing to bear the torture. She is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Cuttack.

As the incident triggered sharp criticism from different quarters, the Odisha government on tuesday transferred Rai, a 2009-batch IPS officer, hailing from Mau district of Uttar Pradesh, to state police headquarters, Cuttack.

The IPS officer, however, dismissed the allegations of harassment and attributed the victim’s drastic action to mental distress, owing to personal issues.

Meanwhile, the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has sought a report from the Director General of Police (DGP) regarding the incident.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the matter following news reports, the Commission issued order for sending a notice to the DGP to cause an inquire into the incident. The state police chief is required to submit the report by September 15.