Ranchi: A 33-year-old tribal woman from Jharkhand’s Latehar district has alleged that she was beaten, sexually harassed, and subjected to casteist slurs by policemen inside the Bariatu police station.
A tribal rights group shared a video of the victim detailing her ordeal along with a copy of the formal complaint on social media. Taking swift cognisance of these accusations, Chief Minister Hemant Soren directed state authorities to launch an investigation and take appropriate action.
The official complaint, signed by the survivor and several local villagers and addressed to the Latehar superintendent of police, explicitly names Bariatu police station officer-in-charge Prabhat Kumar Das, driver Kundan Thakur, staff member Manish, and three other personnel in plainclothes who were allegedly involved in the abuse.
According to the filed statement, the resident of Melam Tola was forcibly detained on October 5 while grazing goats near Bajnadih Mahua. The narrative details extreme physical mistreatment, claiming she was tied upside down inside the station and had green chillies forced into her mouth.
The victim further alleged that officers coerced her into recording a fabricated video statement admitting to involvement in illegal poppy cultivation before finally releasing her the following night. Additionally, the complaint states that officers ransacked her residence and stole 80,000 rupees that had been saved for an upcoming family wedding.
Following widespread public outrage, intervention by the people's rights organisation Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, and the direct instructions from Chief Minister Soren, the Jharkhand Police established an internal inquiry team to thoroughly examine the episode.
Local residents and various human rights organisations continue to voice their anger, demanding the immediate suspension and formal arrest of the accused police officers and personnel involved in the incident.