Suspended BJP leader, Seema Patra, in her mid-60s, accused of torturing her domestic help, Sunita was arrested in the wee hours of Wednesday on August 31, 2022 from her residence in Jharkhand.
According to the sources, Sunita, the help, had been working for her for the past 10 years.
In a video that went viral, Sunita, 29, is seen on a hospital bed with bruises all over her body including her face. It is alleged that Patra, tortured her, beat her, and smashed her teeth with rods and iron pan. In the video, it is clearly seen that most of her teeth were missing and she couldn’t sit up.
Adding to her agony, she also revealed – “I was forced to lick urine off the floor. She also broke my teeth with an iron rod.”
“I was starved for days. It was Ms. Patra’s son, Ayushman, who saved me. It is only because of him that I am alive,” she said.
Patra was caught after her son, Ayushman, who was apparently disturbed by the on-going abuse, revealed the horrific incident to a friend, Vivek Anand Baskey, a government officer and asked for his help.
Ms. Patra had enrolled her son to a Ranchi-based Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences, allegedly after knowing that he was trying to help her maid Sunita.
Meanwhile, after the rescue, the police took Sunita to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for her treatment.
The accused Patra, wife of a retired IAS officer, Maheshwar Patra, has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days. Police did not find any evidence against Ms Patra’s husband.
While speaking to reporters, Ranchi’s Senior Superintendent of Police, Kishore Kaushal said, “She (Patra) has been taken into custody. Other formalities are being completed, and would be produced in the court later in the day.”
Earlier, after the horrific details emerged last week of the alleged torture by Patra of her domestic help, a massive anger sparked around the locality.
On Tuesday, explaining about the conditions of Sunita’s health, Kaushal had stated- “Though she was rescued from the house of the 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.”
The Jharkhand leader, who was a member of the national executive of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha (women’s wing), was suspended on Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Later, in a late-night tweet, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote, “Tribal daughter needs an apology not just from that inhuman BJP leader but also the rank and file of BJP.”
“More so, those women cabinet ministers who were screaming in the parliament demanding an apology for an incorrect word for President of India. Shameful silence from them now,” she further added.
SSP Kaushal added, “A case was registered under relevant sections of the IPC and SC/ST Act soon after she (the domestic help) was rescued.”
According to her Facebook profile, Ms Patra was also the state convenor of centre’s leading campaign on ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’.
Seema Patra along with her husband lives in Ranchi’s Ashok Nagar.
In her response, Patra said, “These are false allegations, politically motivated allegations. I have been implicated.”
The FIR was presented by the complainant Vivek Anand Baskey, a government employee and believed to have received a message from Patra’s son Ayushman, over the physical violence going on against the domestic help in the house.
The FIR cited that Ayushman had also provided pictures of the domestic help with bruises. Patra allegedly got her son admitted to a psychiatric centre when he started complaining about the physical torture of the domestic help. “With the help of the police, the son was taken to a psychiatric hospital where he shouted at his mother- You made her (domestic help) drink her own urine. What kind of inhuman person you are?”
Meanwhile, Jharkhand police are trying to identify other angles linked to the case.
