On Son’s Tip-Off, Suspended BJP Leader Held for Torture, Forcing House Help to Lick Urine for 8 Yrs
Jharkhand Police on Wednesday arrested suspended BJP leader Seema Patra over allegations of torturing her 29-year-old tribal help Sunita. A case has been registered at Argora police station against Patra, wife of an ex-IAS officer, for torturing her domestic help over years.
The suspended BJP leader, however, after being arrested claimed that she is innocent and termed the allegations “politically motivated”.
Seema Patra had allegedly kept the woman captive in her residence in Ranchi’s posh Ashok Nagar area for several years. Patra was suspended by BJP after a video of the woman, identified as Sunita, narrating her ordeal, went viral on social media with demands for Patra’s arrest.
Sunita was reportedly saved by Ayushman, Seema Patra’s son. Patra was caught after her son told his friend, a government officer, about the torture and asked for help, reports said.
Acting on a tip-off from a government employee, the Ranchi Police had rescued the woman from Patra’s residence last week and recorded her statement on Tuesday before a magistrate.
Sunita has suffered dozens of injuries on her body as she was allegedly beaten with a hot pan and iron rods and was forced to lick the urine on the floor over years of torture.
Sunita, whose teeth were also broken with an iron rod, was unable to stand on her own when she was found as she was locked in a room without food and water.
Sunita is currently undergoing treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Ranchi.
The arrest of the suspended BJP leader comes a day after Governor Ramesh Bais asked DGP Neeraj Sinha as to why no action has been taken against her.
Patra’s domestic help said on Wednesday that she has throat issues, adding that what everyone has heard is exactly what has happened to her. “Madam used to beat me up when I used to make a mistake while working,” Sunita said.
Meanwhile, BJP leader and former CM Babulal Marandi paid a visit to Sunita at the hospital and said, “We came here to meet the victim, she’s poor lady and used to work at her [accused Seema Patra] house. The way she was beaten by her was not right. It’s good that she [Seema Patra] has been arrested and the party has also removed her.”
