BHAWANIPATNA: A 20-year-old woman on Wednesday was manhandled by some miscreants inside the M Rampur police station, when she went there to file a complaint of sexual harassment against a sarpanch. The woman of Kacharpali village was assaulted in presence of policemen by the alleged henchmen of Salepali panchayat sarpanch Ramesh Chandra Sahu.
The victim alleged in the FIR that Sahu had been harassing her and asking for sexual favours in order to facilitate a house under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for her family. As per reports, the victim's parents are migrant workers and in their absence, she was staying with her three minor brothers in their dilapidated house which was damaged during rains last year.
The sarpanch frequented their house and under the pretext of providing PMAY housing started befriending her. On October 18, he went to her house when the victim was alone and attempted to rape. However, she managed to drive him out of the house.
The accused then started threatening her of dire consequences if she disclosed the incident. While the latter chose to keep mum for her family’s security, the sarpanch kept calling her over phone and asked sexual favours from her by promising housing benefits.
Police have registered a case and are interrogating the accused. SDPO Gupteswar Bhoi said the statement of the victim has been recorded and the matter is under investigation. However, the accused sarpanch has refuted the allegations terming it as a conspiracy to malign him.
Meanwhile, the BJP women's wing has demanded justice for the woman and action against the sarpanch, who allegedly is close to ruling party leaders.