Barsa Swony Choudhury

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 21: The state government today said it would provide round-the-clock security to Barsa Swony Choudhury, 24, daughter-in-law of former law minister Raghunath Mohanty. She got the assurance after meeting chief minister Naveen Pattnaik here.

Barsa, who shot into news last year by bringing allegations of dowry torture against her father in-law, Raghunath Mohanty, told the chief minister that was facing a threat to her life.

Special secretary of the home department Lalit Das said the decision of providing security to Barsa was taken following a directive from the chief minister. Sources said she would be provided with a personal security officer. Besides, the local police station has been instructed to ensure her foolproof security.

After the meeting, Barsa said the chief minister assured her of security and action would be taken against the accused according to the law. “I met the chief minister this morning and he assured me of protection without any delay. He also said law would take its own course in this case. The government will not harbour soft attitude towards the Mohantys even though they belonged to his party,” she said.

Barsa also said she had drawn Naveen’s attention to the fact that the Odisha Human Rights Protection Cell had not yet submitted any charge sheet of her case. She had met chairperson of the state commission for women Lopamudra Buxipatra on Tuesday, complaining about the delay in submitting charge sheet by the cell and sought justice. She had also sought protection, citing threat perception.

On January 9, Barsa, who is pursuing journalism, had met the cell chief and additional director-general of police (crime branch) B.K. Sharma, requesting him to expedite the process of filing of charge sheet in connection with the case. Though in normal circumstances charge sheets are filed within 120 days, in her case it is going to be one year since the accused persons were arrested.

Barsa had brought allegations of dowry torture on March 14, 2013, against the minister, his wife and son Rajasharee, 29, to whom she had married in June 2012 and others. Mohanty was subsequently dropped from the Naveen Patnaik’s government as the law minister last year. Later, the cell arrested him along with Pritilata from Shalimar in Howrah district of Bengal. Rajashree was arrested from Cuttack.

On September 27 last year, Barsa had filed a suit for maintenance in the family court in Balasore, seeking a sum of Rs 60,000 per month from her husband. The case is under trail.