‘Torture’ of female home guard by Odisha DIGP's wife: BJP seeks NHRC intervention & stern action

The Odisha unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) met the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday in connection with the alleged torture of a female home guard by the wife of a Police DIG of the state.

The BJP delegation that met the NHRC included Lekhashree Samantsinghar, Golak Mohapatra, and Thakur Ranjit Singh. They met the Commission and submitted a complaint demanding financial assistance for the victim and action against the DIG.

Speaking to reporters, Samantsinghar said, “Our team met the NHRC today. We filed a complaint with the Commission about the female home guard who was tortured by the police DIG's wife. She lost both her legs because of it.”

“The home guard’s family has not received any financial help from the government till now. She is fighting for her life in the hospital. We requested the NHRC to order a compensation of Rs 1 crore for her,” she added.

The matter came to the fore after a female home guard Sairindri Sahu brought serious allegations against the wife of West-Central Range DIG of Police, Brijesh Kumar Rai, and claimed that she lost both her legs in a suicide attempt after failing to bear the torture meted out to her. She is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Cuttack.

Sairindri alleged that the wife of DIGP, Rai was asking her to do too much physical work, torturing her, beating her up and even threatening her to take her job away. She didn’t even allow Sairindri to take leave. Describing the sequence of events, she further stated in her complaint that on a particular day, the DIG’s wife pushed her and asked her to go and end her life somewhere when she refused to wash some clothes.

Earlier in the day, the BJP launched a scathing attack on the BJD government. The party demanded the arrest of Rai and his wife. It is pertinent to mention here that Rai was transferred to the State police Headquarters following the allegations.

Senior advocate of Orissa High Court and BJP leader, Pitambar Acharya said that the incident has crossed all limits of humanity.

“The barbarism of the wife of a Senior IPS officer leading to the suicide attempt of a woman home guard engaged in private household menial works has surpassed all canons of inhumanity and depicts the exploitation of women. The mere transfer of the DIG does not absolve the couple of criminal liability under prevailing laws and both of them need to be arrested immediately for having been involved in cognizable and non-bailable offenses,” Acharya said.