Bharatiya Janata Party leader Seema Patra was on Wednesday arrested in Ranchi for torturing and confining her domestic worker. A first information report against her has been filed at Ranchi’s Argora police station.
Videos of the household worker, Sunita, accusing Patra of having tortured her have been shared widely on social media. Sunita, an Adivasi, has been admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi.
Sunita who is 29 and hails from Gumla in Jharkhand, was employed by the Patras around 10 years ago.
In one of the videos, she recounts being beaten up with a hot pan and rods. She was also forced to lick urine off the floor, Sunita has alleged.
Several of the Adivasi woman’s teeth are missing and she is incapable of sitting up on the hospital bed. Sunita also has several injury marks on her body, which point to repeated physical assault.
Patra was a member of the national working committee of BJP’s women’s wing. On Tuesday, the BJP suspended Patra from the party after the allegations emerged.
Her husband, Maheshwar Patra, is a retired IAS officer.
Patra has been booked under Sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 325, 346 (wrongful confinement), and 374 (unlawful compulsory labour) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
