In a major embarrassment for the ruling Biju Janata Dal, police registered criminal cases against two BJD legislators after the Orissa High Court issued separate directions for lodging case against the two.
Police registered a case against Anandapur MLA Bhagirathi Sethy on Sunday for allegedly misbehaving with a woman Zilla Parishad Member of Keonjhar district.
The case has been registered under Sections 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 506 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), said Keonjhar police station officer Devaki Nayak. According to a complaint against the lawmaker, the legislator had allegedly misbehaved with Aseema Mishra, Zone-3 Zilla Parishad Member of Keonjhar, on August 30, 2022 during a meeting held at the Anandapur Panchayat Samiti office. The woman Zilla Parishad member of BJP has alleged that the lawmaker abused her and asked her to leave the meeting.
Though Mishra had lodged a complaint in this connection at the Anandapur police station, the case was not registered against the MLA following which she moved the Orissa High Court. The high court last week directed police to lodge the case. In another case, police registered a case BJD’s Tirtol MLA Bijaya Shankar Das based on the complaints lodged by his estranged girlfriend Somalika Das. The woman has accused the MLA of having multiple affairs. ”He has affairs with many women… I had once advised him (MLA) to refrain from such activities, but he didn’t pay any heed. He had threatened me saying that he belongs to the ruling party. I have now decided not to marry him,” Somalika said.
Somalika in her statement to police has alleged that the MLA developed physical relationship with her on the promise of marriage. She also alleged that she had to undergo abortion twice. The Orissa High Court last week directed the Jagatsinghpur police station In-change Inspector to register a case against Bijaya Shankar Das on the basis of a complaint lodged by Somalika.
A fresh case was registered against the MLA on February 2 and Inspector-in-Charge Babita Dalai is handling case, said SDPO Ramesh Chandra Singh. Somalika had moved the High Court seeking registration of case against the lawmaker. ”The police did not register case against the MLA despite her filing a complaint on May 13, 2022,” the woman said.
However, the MLA has rejected all the allegation made by Somalika and claimed that the complaints were politically motivated to defame him.
