Congress condemns sexual exploitation of army officer’s fiancee in Odisha PS; questions PM’s silence

New Delhi: The Congress has condemned the barbaric sexual exploitation of an army officer’s fiancée at a police station in Odisha.

“Women are not safe even in the police stations of BJP-ruled states,” Supriya Shrinate, Congress spokesperson and convener of social media and digital platforms, told the media.

Supriya Shrinate narrated how the fiancée of an army major was brutally and barbarically sexually exploited at the police station when she went there to seek help.

She termed it ironic that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken about women empowerment in the same state but within 72 hours of his speech, a woman was subjected to such brutal torture including sexual exploitation by some monstrous policemen at the police station.

Shrinate said the victim was no ordinary woman but a lawyer and a restaurateur and moreover she was engaged to an officer of the Indian Army. And yet she was subjected to such horrifying monstrous and macabre treatment, the Congress leader said.

Shrinate questioned the silence of the BJP leaders, especially the Prime Minister. She said that they were right to protest against the rape and murder in West Bengal but they chose to remain silent on the incident in Odisha.

She asked why it was happening in BJP-ruled states, like earlier in Manipur, where two women were paraded naked, one of whom was the wife of a Kargil war hero. In another BJP-ruled state, Madhya Pradesh, female companions of army officers were treated in the same manner.

Giving details of the incident in Odisha, Shrinate said the woman was on her way home when she was confronted with some catcalls and bullying.

“She went to the nearest police station. Instead of helping her, the officers tied her hands and feet, a male police officer came and undressed her,” Shrinate added.

“Is this how safe our women are? The PM is silent. The BJP rightly protested in West Bengal. What about Odisha, are you going to shut up?” she asked, adding that they don’t want to talk in Badlapur, they don’t want to talk in UP, in Bihar, or any place that is controlled by the BJP.

Referring to the pinprick “stony silence” of the Women and Child Development Minister, she said she rarely speaks, or rather does not speak at all. She also questioned the silence of the BJP’s women MPs and also that of the National Women’s Commission, which she said had just become a resource agency of the BJP.