RTI activist arrested by Bhubaneswar Mahila Police in Dutee Chand harassment case

RTI activist Pradip Pradhan was arrested by Bhubaneswar Mahila Police on Sunday in connection with the alleged mental harassment case filed by sprinter Dutee Chand, informed Bhubaneswar Zone-1 ACP.

Apart from being an RTI activist, Pradhan is also the Secretary of the political outfit ‘Mo Dala’.

As per reports, Pradhan has been arrested under IPC Sections 506, criminal conspiracy, and IT Act.

Dutee had filed a complaint against Pradhan and some other persons alleging that she was mentally harassed for her poor performance in the Olympics two years ago.

As per reports, Dutee had moved Orissa High Court seeking action against Pradhan for sharing a post of a digital channel criticizing her for poor Olympic performance.

Hearing the matter, the High Court had ordered the police to take action against Pradhan. However, police didn’t take any action against Pradhan for two months, and was only arrested on Sunday.

Following the arrest of Pradhan, several workers of Mo Dala, RTI activists, social workers, and journalists reached Bhubaneswar Mahila police station. 

Meanwhile, some RTI activists questioned why police didn’t take any action against Pradhan in the last two months. They have further alleged that the government is trying to suppress the RTI activists including Pradhan for raising their voices against corruption.

Pradhan was detained for questioning in connection with the case on Saturday night.

Notably, Pradhan was often expressing his views on various alleged corruption activities by the State government before the media.

“I have been implicated in a false case because FIRs have been lodged against Naveen Patnaik and Pandian by Mo Dala,” alleged Pradhan while being taken into a police van.

When contacted over her mobile phone, sprinter Dutee Chand said, “Sudhansu Sekhar Rout, Pradeep Pradhan and Smruti Ranjan Behera had harassed me on my personal life, family matters and sports career on their respective Facebook pages. That’s why I had sought the intervention of the Mahila Commission at that time. The police had then arrested them except Pradeep Pradhan. Now, I am happy that he has been arrested.”