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Bhubaneswar/Balasore, March 23: Senior IPS officer Gopabandhu Mallick, who is additional director-general of the Odisha State Human Rights Commission, has been accused of torturing his sister-in-law.
Coming in the wake of similar allegations brought against former minister Raghunath Mohanty by her daughter-in-law Barsa Swony Choudhary, this case has generated a lot of heat.
The issue rocked the Assembly today with the Congress demanding arrest of the accused in all dowry cases that had surfaced in the state. Odisha reported as many as 3,054 dowry torture cases last year.
In her FIR, Santosini Mallick, 31, a mother of two girls, accused the IPS officer, apart from her husband Nand Kishore Mallick, father-in-law Purna Chandra Mallick, mother-in-law Subasini Mallick, sister-in-law Bhabani Mallick and her husband’s brother Akshay Mallick of torturing her for dowry. Gopabandhu happens to be the husband of Santosini’s sister-in-law.
In her complaint, she alleged that the family members of her husband had begun torturing her physically and mentally one year after her marriage in 2001. “I was driven out of the house in 2010 when I couldn’t meet the demand for getting Rs 80,000 from my house. They took both my children away from me. My husband married another woman on March 4 this year. Gopabandhu Mallick helped my husband and other in-laws in their ill deeds,” she said.
Based on the FIR, police last night registered a case under sections 498-A (cruelty), 506 (criminal intimidation), 448 and 449 (house trespass), 34 (furtherance of common intention) and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act against the accused.
The case was initially lodged in Balasore town police station but later transferred to Sahdev Khunta police station on the outskirts. Santosini in 2011 had also filed a case in the Balasore family court. The case is pending.
The immediate provocation for her to file the FIR was her knowledge that her husband had married again. She said that when she brought the issue of her husband’s second marriage to the knowledge of Gopabandhu, the latter threatened her and asked her to keep quiet.
On the other hand, Gopabandhu denied the allegations. Speaking to The Telegraph over phone, he said: “In a democratic country, any one can lodge a complaint. Once an FIR is filed, the police should make a proper inquiry into the case. I have nothing to do with this case, but I will co-operate with the investigation.”
On being asked whether the law to deal with dowry cases was being misused, Gopabandhu said: “It would not be proper on my part to comment. One should respect the law. However, if one goes through the records of the National Crime records Bureau, one will find that many false cases have been registered in the name of dowry torture.”
He also said a House committee could also be constituted to probe the allegations against him.
Sahadev Khunta inspector in charge Manoj Rout said: “The case is under investigation and we have carried out raids to nab the accused husband. We will go by the merit of the case to assess the involvement of other persons named in the FIR.”
While the police have one more case to handle, former law minister Raghunath Mohanty and his family members — his wife, daughter and son-in-law — are yet to be arrested. The police continue to take the plea that its efforts are on to trace those accused, which could take them outside the state.