Youths arrested for attacking army officer and misbehaving with his fiancee in Odisha get bail

Bhubaneswar: A local court here on Saturday granted bail to seven engineering students accused of attacking an army officer and misbehaving with his fiancée on September 15 night.

The students, charged under Sections 126 (2), 115 (2), 117 (2), and 296/3 (5) of the BNS, allegedly assaulted the officer and hurled abuses at his fiancée over a vehicle overtaking incident around 2 am.

According to ADCP Krushna Prasad Dash, police seized 11 mobile phones from the accused youths.

The students were arrested on Friday night and presented before the Judicial Magistrate First Class-2 (JMF) on Saturday, where they were granted bail. Their arrest was based on CCTV footage of the incident, according to police.

Police said the students dragged the officer and assaulted him when he attempted to intervene. They have also been accused of threatening the couple with dire consequences when the officer tried to video-record the incident on his mobile phone, police added.

The accused students have denied the allegations, claiming they did not physically touch the officer’s fiancée. However, a viral video appears to show them in an altercation with the woman.

"The woman from her car showed some indecent gestures towards us. We had a scuffle with the army officer over the issue. We are being falsely implicated in the case," said one of the youths.

Later, when the officer and his fiancée approached Bharatpur police station to lodge a complaint of road rage, a verbal altercation took place between the couple and some policemen following which the couple were allegedly assaulted at the station.

On Thursday, the woman claimed that she was "tied and a male officer kicked on my breasts several times. He lowered down my pants and his as well. Showing his private part, he asked me how much time I want to remain silent." Based on the couple's complaint, the DGP suspended five personnel including the inspector in-charge (IIC) of Bharatpur police station and the crime branch has been asked to investigate the matter.