Odisha: Court grants bail to 7 accused in assault of Army officer, fiancee case

Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) [India], September 22 (ANI): District Court on Saturday granted bail to all the seven accused in the alleged assault case of the Army officer and his fiancee at Chandaka Road in Odisha’s Bhubaneshwar.

The Odisha police had arrested seven people on Thursday after the incident took place reportedly on September 15, when the couple were returning from a hotel late at night.

Krushna Prasad Dash, Additional DCP, Bhubaneswar, told ANI that they have registered a case under several sections of the BNS.

“During the investigation, we have recovered a vehicle and 11 mobile phones from the accused. Seven of them have been arrested, and they have been forwarded to the court. We have also recovered a video and audio clip and are examining the same,” he said.

“The arrested accused are Rakesh Naik, Abhilash Sawant, Aman Kumar, Aditya Ranjan Behra, Akash Padhiyari, Harish Manta, and Ashish Kumar. Further investigation is underway,” Additional DCP Dash added.

The incident reportedly took place on September 15 when the Army Major and the woman went to the Bharatpur police station to complain against some miscreants, who had harassed them while returning from a hotel late at night. Instead of addressing their concerns, the police allegedly tortured the Major and the woman, even sending her to jail without any justification.

The Odisha government reiterated its ‘zero tolerance’ policy on violence against women on Friday and initiated an inquiry into the matter.

“The government has taken the allegations of misbehaviour and assault against an army officer and a woman accompanying him in Bharatpur police station very seriously. As soon as the incident came to the notice of the government, necessary steps were taken as per law along with departmental action,” said the statement by the Chief Minister’s office.

The state government has suspended five police officials, including the Inspector Charge (IIC) of Bharatpur police station, in connection with the incident and ordered a Crime Branch probe in this regard.

Former Chief Minister of Odisha and Leader of the Opposition, Naveen Patnaik, also called for a judicial probe into the incident and criticised the BJP government for stopping certain initiatives for the people.