Army officer, his fiancee attacked in Odisha: Video shows group of men surrounding couple in Bhubneshwar

Days after an army officer and his fiancée were allegedly sexually and physically assaulted at Bharatpur police station in Bhubaneswar, where they had gone to lodge a complaint of an assault by a group of men, videos of the incident have surfaced.

The video, seen by India Today TV, shows the army officer and his fiancée surrounded by a group of men. The men can be seen arguing violently, pushing the two men around while shouting abuse at them.

In the video, the woman is heard saying, “I talk to people who try to misbehave with me.” A man in the group responds, “No one misbehaves with you.”

“Sir, I am not talking to you. I am talking to people who misbehave with me. It is my car, whether I show my legs or my hair, it is my prerogative,” the woman can be heard saying in Hindi.

One of the men then interrupts him, saying, “Don’t show it to us, then.”

The woman then asks him, “Who are you?”, to which a man in the group replies, “If Mohan Majhi were here, would you give him the finger?” She replies that she doesn’t know who he is, to which the group shouts, “He’s the Chief Minister of Odisha.”

As the argument escalates, one of the men asks the army officer to explain. “This is not Delhi, explain it to him,” the man replies, while the officer tries to calm the situation and guide the woman away.

The men then accuse the woman of playing the “victim card” and warn her not to be too assertive. As the officer walks the woman to their car, another video shows her standing with the door open when one of the men slams it.

The group insulted and physically attacked the officer, who was trying to protect the woman.

The video ends with the woman stating that she will go to the police, to which one of the men sarcastically responds: “Stop now” (pursue).

After the incident, the woman and the officer went to Bharatpur police station in Bhubaneswar, where the woman alleged that she was sexually assaulted.

The woman, who was also arrested by the police, was granted bail by the Orissa High Court on September 19, considering the gravity of the allegations. Narrating her harrowing experience to the media, the woman said she was repeatedly punched on the chest before a police inspector assaulted her and showed her.

As the incident sparked nationwide outrage, Odisha police suspended five officers, including the inspector-in-charge of Bharatpur police station.

(With contributions from Ajay Nath.)