BALANGIR: A constable was arrested for allegedly beating up a widow in Balangir Town police station on Tuesday night.
The constable Anjan Pradhan had allegedly assaulted the tribal woman after making her sign a stamp paper for sale of her land.
Pradhan was reportedly mediating between the woman, and the potential buyer of her in-laws’ paternal land, Vikash Jain.
The matter came to fore after the woman, a resident of Gandhinagarpara area in the town lodged an FIR at Bolangir Town Police Station levelling allegations of assault against the constable.
After preliminary investigation into the incident, both Pradhan and Jain were arrested by the police.
As per reports, the woman’s brother-in-law was trying to sell the paternal land and had asked her to sign on a ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC).
When she refused to cooperate, he sought Pradhan’s help. As the woman did not budge from her stance, Pradhan took her two children to the police station and later called the woman there.
The woman went to the police along with her father and sister and was forced to sign a stamp paper by the constable. Pradhan thrashed the widow in the police station.
She ran from the spot and was caught by the constable near Kacheri chhak where he assaulted her again. She was rescued by some locals.
The widow said the constable manipulated her and took the signatures. “When I came to know that he had taken my signature on the land’s stamp paper, I tried to snatch it. Then, he assaulted me,” she said.
On the other hand, Pradhan refuted the charges levelled by the widow. He said the victim might have a dispute with her brother-in-law and denied being a mediator in the case.
He also denied having taken the woman’s signature on the stamp paper relating to the sale of the land.
Police brutality
The constable Anjan Pradhan had allegedly assaulted the woman after making her sign a stamp paper for sale of her land
As the woman did not budge from her stance, Pradhan took her 2 kids to the police station and later called here there
Pradhan thrashed the widow in the police station and made her sign a stamp paper