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Help tortured, starved: Jharkhand BJP leader suspended
The party suspended state BJP national executive member Seema Patra on Monday, hours after the tribal woman was seen recounting the how she was starved for days, humiliated, assaulted, and scalded while in captivity.
Police in Jharkhand’s capital city rescued a 29-year-old tribal woman allegedly tortured for years in captivity by a Bharatiya Janata Party leader amid building outrage as details emerged of the brutality the victim endured.
The party suspended state BJP national executive member Seema Patra on Monday, hours after the woman was seen recounting the how she was starved for days, humiliated, assaulted, and scalded while in captivity.
Police said Patra, the wife of former bureaucrat BB Patra, has been booked and was to be arrested soon.
“A case was registered under relevant sections of the IPC and SC/ST Act soon after she was rescued... Though she was rescued from the house of accused last week, she was very fragile and traumatised. Investigation is on and the related formalities are being done. The accused would be arrested soon,” said Ranchi senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kishore Kaushal.
A senior Ranchi police officer familiar with the development said the police got the woman to depose before a magistrate on Tuesday. The woman was held captive for eight years, the officer added.
The woman was rescued after a Jharkhand government employee Vivek Baski, who was known to the family, alerted the district administration, police officials said.
Videos showed the woman, emaciated and lying on a bed, recounting details of her treatment. She said she said Seema Patra locked her in a room for days without food or water, assaulted her regularly and burned her with hot utensils at various places on her body.
“Due to continuous thrashing, her health deteriorated. She used to drag herself on the floor as she was unable to walk. She said that she was made to lick her urine from the floor and her front teeth were smashed by an iron rod,” a police official said, adding that the victim said Patra’s son would could to her rescue on several occasions.
Police said Patra’s son was facing neurological issues and was under treatment at a hospital in Ranchi when he alerted his friend Baski about Sunita’s condition.
The Patras and their two children, a son and a daughter, reside in the city’s upscale Ashok Nagar neighbourhood in Ranchi.
A police official familiar with the development said the woman, in her statement, has levelled charges only against Seema Patra. “We can’t reveal details at this stage. All aspects related to the case is under investigation.
