Videos of the alleged manhandling surfaced, a day after it was revealed that an Army officer’s friend had been sexually harassed at a police station in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, when she and the officer went to make a complaint about an attack on them by a few individuals.
The footage, which NDTV obtained on Saturday but whose veracity has not been independently confirmed, depicts the woman and the police encircled by a group of guys who are seen yelling and pushing at them as well as arguing. After the woman closed her restaurant for the day, she and the officer, who is posted to the 22 Sikh Regiment in Kolkata, were returning to their hotel in Bhubaneswar when the attack occurred on Sunday morning at around one in the morning.
The woman is heard complaining that some of the individuals around her had attempted to mistreat her in the video, which looks to have been taken on a cellphone.
“Sir, those people that are attempting to misbehave with me are the ones I am speaking with, not you. They’re… I have the right to drive my car and to show my body as I like, she states in Hindi.
Then one of the men in the group says, “Don’t show it to us, then.” “Who are you?” the woman says. A politician’s name is given by another man, who then asks if she is familiar with him. “The Prime Minister of Odisha” is yelled by another man when she responds that she hasn’t.
The Army officer tries to take the woman away as the fight gets more heated, holding her hands, but the men follow, yelling, “This is not Delhi.” Then the men shove the cop and demand that he “explain things” to her.
The males warn the woman not to “show overconfidence” and accuse her of playing the “victim card” while the fight goes on.
After the woman is taken to their car by the officer, she can be seen standing with the front door open when one of the males slams it in the following video. The officer who tries to protect the woman is attacked by the attackers and spat insults. After that, the officer separates from her and treats her rough. When the woman claims she will go to the police, the officer and she are seen in the last moments of the video heading towards the automobile. There’s a man who says, “Arre ja” (go forward).