Videos show attack on army officer and friend in Odisha

A day after it came to light that the girlfriend of an army officer was sexually harassed at a police station in Bhubaneswar in the Indian state of Odisha when she and the officer tried to file a complaint about an attack on her by some men, videos of the alleged abuse have emerged.

The videos, made available by NDTV on Saturday but whose authenticity has not been independently verified, show the woman and the officer surrounded by some men who argue with them and then push them while hurling abuses at them. The attack occurred around 1am on Sunday when the woman and the officer, who is attached to the 22nd Sikh Regiment in Kolkata, were returning to their hotel in Bhubaneswar after closing their restaurant for the day.

In the footage, apparently shot on a mobile phone, the woman is seen talking to a man and can be heard saying that some of the people around her have tried to misbehave towards her.

“Sir, I am not talking to you, I am talking to the people who are trying to misbehave with me. They are… It's my car, whether I show my legs or my hair, it's my prerogative,” she says in Hindi.

A man in the group interjects and says, “Then don't show us.” When the woman asks, “Who are you?” another man mentions the name of a politician and asks if she has heard of him. When she says no, another man calls out, “The Prime Minister of Odisha.”

As the argument escalates, the army officer holds the woman's hands and tries to pull her away, but the men follow him, shouting, “This is not Delhi.” The men then push the officer and ask him to “explain things to her.”

The argument continues and the men accuse the woman of playing the “victim card” and tell her not to “show excessive self-confidence”.

The officer takes the woman to her car and in the next video she is seen standing with the front door open as one of the men slams it shut. The men verbally abuse and punch the officer who tries to protect the woman. She and the officer are then separated and manhandled. The video ends with the officer and the woman walking toward the car as she says she is going to go to the police. A man is heard saying: “Yes” (continue).

From bad to worse

But the ordeal for the woman and the officer was just beginning. She told reporters on Friday that when they reached the Bharatpur police station in Bhubaneswar some time later, there was only a woman policeman in plain clothes who refused to help them.

The police officer verbally abused them and in the meantime some police officers arrived and asked the officer to make a written statement before locking him in a cell.

“I don't know what happened… they put him in jail. When I raised my voice and said that they cannot take an army officer into custody because it is illegal, two female officers attacked me,” she said, adding that her arms were tied with her jacket and she was left in a room.

“After some time, a male police officer opened the doors and kicked me several times in the breasts,” she said. He also took off his trousers and then hers, while the police officer on duty at the police station made obscene gestures.

However, police officials at the station claimed that the woman and the army officer, in an intoxicated state, attacked a policeman and destroyed property there. The woman was arrested by the Odisha High Court earlier this week and released on bail.

The Odisha Police Department said five policemen, including an inspector, have been suspended for “gross misconduct” and an investigation is underway. Officials from another police station are currently investigating the attack on the woman and the army officer before reaching the Bharatpur police station.

Former Chief Minister of Odisha state Naveen Patnaik demanded a judicial inquiry into the attack on the police station.

“In view of the violence inflicted on both of them and the alleged sexual assault on the major's fiancée, we call for a full judicial investigation into this matter and action must be taken very quickly,” he said.