'Abused, Shamed, Hit': Odisha Cops Abuse Victim Shares Harrowing Ordeal Inside Bharatpur Station

Bhubaneswar: Days after an army officer and his fiancée were allegedly assaulted in police custody, Republic Media Network has spoken exclusively with the female victim, who recounted her harrowing experience at the Bharatpur Police Station in Odisha . During the interview, she broke down several times as she described being undressed, abused, tied up, mercilessly beaten, and sexually assaulted by police officials. 

Narrating the horrific incident, the woman said how she felt disgraced and pathetic. She said, "I can't live that thing again what I was feeling. I was really feeling disgraced and pathetic."

Earlier this week, the couple met Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, just one day after the state government ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident. Following their meeting, the Odisha government suspended five personnel from the Bharatpur police station and registered a case against them for torturing the army officer and sexually harassing his fiancée.

The alleged assault occurred on September 15 when the army officer, stationed in West Bengal, and his fiancée went to the Bharatpur police station to file a complaint regarding a road rage incident in which they were harassed by local youths.

On being asked about what exactly happened on that horrific night of September 15, the female victim said, "On the night of 14-15 at around 1:32, I was returning back along with my fiancé from Patia to my home, and on the road we were chased and then stopped by three four-wheelers, out of which some 10 or 12 people came out, only men, and they started hooting and bashing on the car, you know, perpetrating my fiancé to get out of the car, which he did. I was sitting there inside the car at that time and watching him being pushed around. I came out of the vehicle thinking that me being a lady would assuage the situation and they would probably move away, but they didn't, and their latency came on to me as well of abuse and even pushing around. But knowing their strength that they were a lot, my fiancé and I just got into the vehicle looking at the time that we had the window and we drove away from there. From this place of incident, my home is not very far, maybe 10 to 15 minutes. However, my fiancé suggested that we should go ahead to Bharatpur police station, which is not very far away from my place, another 400 meters I believe, to write this FIR because my road ahead to my home is very dark and secluded. So we were threatened because that was anyway very threatening and off to dismay that what just happened. So we, with that intention and motive only, entered the police station just to simply write an FIR."

She added, "On entering over there, there was one male officer constable I believe sitting at the reception, and when he was told about whatever was the incident and we wanted to write an FIR, he ignored us and said that we should please wait and sit. We sat and waited at the reception, then a lady officer came in her nightie. I asked her if she was the person on duty; she said yes, she was. Then I said, can you please take an FIR because we've already mentioned it to him and he's not. Since she was a lady I was having a talk with her, she was also not really listening or paying any attention or even giving any interest. That is when I did take out my camera and started to record her because I did need evidence if later I wanted to put in a complaint or whatsoever that did not take action, even though I was there at an odd hour and my requirement of going to the police station at odd hours has to be viable. It has to be with a reason. So obviously, I was there just to write a complaint."

She explained how the incident unfolded: "Thereafter, when I did take out my phone, I could make out she was irritated and enraged with me, so she said a senior officer will come, and he will write. After about 30 to 40 minutes, the vehicle did come, and more female officers and male officers did get down from that vehicle and entered the police station. By then, my fiancé was the one who was explaining and started doing the talking because there were a lot of males, and he was talking to them that he would just write my complaint and he would be good to go."

She further added, "There was hesitance, there was resistance, but still, I think maybe in five odd minutes, he did pen and he started to write. But I don't know what went down that while he was writing, suddenly his arms were flung and he was stripped down. All his belongings—car keys, his wallet, his military ID card, and his phone—were taken by the police, and he was being dragged to the cell. That is when I was just wondering, what is this happening? We came here for a complaint; why is he being taken to the cell? To which I started to tell the officer, the SI who was pulling him, 'Sir, what is the matter? Why are you taking him there?' There was no reply from him; he was not entertaining me."

The army officer's fiancée also told how the police put him in a cell without any fault. She said, "He put him in the cell. Then secondly, now him being behind the cell, we were just getting impatient—what is happening now, like what is next? He was telling me, 'Please call the SI; I will speak with him.' He was not answering; he was not opening the door."

Breaking down, she continued, "I kept on persistently knocking on the door. That is when a woman came, a female officer; she dragged me by my hair, pinned me down, and there were two more ladies—now there were a total of three ladies on me pulling my hair, dragging me across the entire corridor, and they were beating me, punching me. While she beat me, one of my teeth also fell out. Watching that and watching the floor covered in blood with my blood, my nose was bleeding, and my mouth was bleeding, I told her, 'Ma'am, you've crossed a lot of limits right now.' From demanding, I had now come on to pleading and begging for my life that 'Please, ma'am, please let me go. Let me sit up. Please just let me go.' And they kept on, they continued abusing me, calling me names—abuses that I don't want to actually say right now. They kept on continuously beating me. Then one of the ladies came at my neck to choke me; that is when I bit her hand, and then she let me go. Then they insinuated and told me, 'She's on powder,' and they just kept on saying all of these things. Thereafter, one of the ladies who was wearing a scarf used it to tie my leg. My own jacket was taken off; I was just then wearing my sports bra, and that jacket itself was used to tie my hands behind me. Then I was dragged—I was lying down on the floor—and I was dragged inside a room. In that room, I was further beaten by their legs, and two more constables, male constables, were called to put me under control because I could hear them again and again say that 'She's giving a lot of fight; she's screaming a lot. Somebody come and help us pin her down.' Those two constables stood on my hands, pressed them, punched my face, and kicked my face."

Breaking down into tears, the woman added, "Then the SI, the one who had put my fiancé behind the cell, entered, and when he entered, he also screamed, yelled, and abused me. One of the females then pulled up my bra, exposed me, and then he started thumping and just kicking my chest. Thereafter, I was just begging again, 'Sir, what have I even done? Just please leave me; you guys are doing wrong.' Then he kept kicking me even more. Then they left me over there for a good 30 odd minutes. I was locked in there, just crying, and I was continuously screaming. I still hear those screams; I was just continuously screaming."

She further revealed, "Meanwhile, I was waiting over there. The door opened after a while, and then I saw a new face over there. In my head, I thought probably this is the senior officer that they have been talking about who will cover and listen. So, watching a fresh face, I told him everything again, that 'Sir, so and so situation has happened.' He asked me to shut up. He said, 'You have been the one who has created a ruckus over here. Who do you think you are?' I told him, 'Sir, I have done nothing; I absolutely just came in for an FIR.' By the time I was saying this, one of the ladies pulled down my pants, and simultaneously, he pulled out his shirt, pulled down his pants, took out his private parts, came up, stood over my face—I was lying down—and then he told me, 'How many times would you take it to just shut up?' Watching that, I knew what could possibly come next. So, I just pushed my face down on the floor. I can't—I can't relive that thing again. What I was feeling was really disgraceful and pathetic."