Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 6: Sahid Nagar police were perplexed Friday morning when a 27-year-old woman requested them to protect her from a bunch of sexual predators. On enquiry, the police were shocked to know that she had escaped from a place where she was being abused sexually.
An officer accompanied her to the Mahila police station later in the day where a befuddling mystery unfolded.
Bijayinee Malla, inspector-incharge of Mahila police station, said Lakshmi (name changed), a resident of Brahmagiri, was brought in to the city recently by her husband Saroj Pradhan and kept her confined in a room somewhere she is not aware of as she is new to the city.
Lakshmi has alleged Saroj coerced her into having sex with many others and she was repeatedly gangraped. She was in the city for 10 days and has been locked up until Friday morning when she managed to escape and reach Shahid Nagar police.
“We don’t know where she was locked up as she didn’t know the place. An autowala had dropped her at the police station,” said Shahid Nagar police inspector in-charge Deepak Kumar Mishra.
A case under section 376 (rape) and 363 (kidnapping) were registered by Mahila police station against Lakshmi’s husband and unidentified persons.
The victim was taken by police to the Capital Hospital for medical tests. Her statement before magistrate will be recorded Saturday.
Appearing frightened, Lakshmi, who had put a towel on her shaven head, could only say that she is not safe before being dragged by a Mahila police constable into a jeep to take her for medical examination. The police station did not let the victim speak to the media, though Lakshmi wanted to tell her ordeal.
When asked what steps will be taken to arrest the perpetrators, Malla said, “The case belongs to Brahmagiri police station and ideally they should have conducted the investigation,” before zooming away in her vehicle.
