Tied up, kicked in the chest: fiancée of an army officer reports attack on police station in Odisha; former Prime Minister Patnaik reacts

The fiancée of an army officer who was reportedly attacked at a police station in Bhubaneswar has accused the Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) and another officer of “sexually harassing and sexually abusing” her.

She shared her harrowing account with the media, explaining that it happened on the morning of September 15, claiming she was “wrongly thrown into prison.”

“I don't know what happened. They put him in jail. When I loudly declared that they could not take an army officer into custody because it was illegal, two female officers started physically attacking me. I kept begging them to stop, but they did not,” she said on Thursday.

The woman further claimed that the police officer dragged her down the corridor and that she resisted and bit her hand when the officer tried to grab her by the neck.

The police then took her to a room after tying her hands and legs, she claimed. “After some time, a male officer opened the door, stepped on my breasts several times and left,” the woman added.

“Then the IIC came, he pulled down my pants and his too. He showed his private parts and asked me how long I wanted to remain silent,” the woman claimed.

On Sunday, the West Bengal-based army officer and his fiancée had approached the Bharatpur police station to file a complaint about an incident of road rage involving local youths. However, they got into a dispute with the police over filing their complaint.

The woman was arrested for allegedly behaving inappropriately with the officials and was released on bail by the Orissa High Court on Thursday.

Shocking and unbelievable: Naveen Patnaik

Former Chief Minister of Odisha state and BJD chairman Naveen Patnaik condemned the incident on Friday as “very shocking” and demanded a court-supervised investigation by the SIT and a legal review of the incident.

“The way an army major and a woman were treated at the Bharatpur police station is shocking and unbelievable. The manner in which the police allegedly treated them has shocked the conscience of the country,” Patnaik said in a post on X.

Patnaik, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, condemned the “heinous” act and expressed his party's expectation that the BJP government would take the strongest possible action against all those involved.