Woman raped by tantrik for 79 days in front of minor son in Odisha, rescued
Balasore (Odisha), May 7: A middle-aged married woman was allegedly raped repeatedly by a 'tantrik' for 79 days in front of her two-and-half-year-old son in Odisha's Balasore district, police said on Saturday.
Police rescued the woman and her child from a locked room on Friday but the accused managed to escape and a manhunt has been launched to nab him.
In her police complaint, the survivor alleged that her husband and in-laws had forced her to stay with the tantrik to resolve a marital discord between the woman and her in-laws.
The woman, who got married in 2017, claimed she had to undergo physical and mental torture by her in-laws for dowry.
The tantrik had assured the family that he would resolve the discord if the woman stays with her for a few months. When she refused to oblige, her mother-in-law allegedly sedated her and she later regained consciousness in the tantrik's room and found her son also in it.
The tantrik repeatedly raped the woman for 79 days in the room in front of her son.
The accused arranged food for the mother and child. On April 28, she found that the tantrik had left his mobile phone in the room, and used it to call up her parents and narrate her ordeal. They, in turn, informed the police.
But by the time the police reached the place, the tantrik had managed to escape. A case under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 376 (rape), has been registered against the accused.
The woman has named her husband, his brother and other in-laws in the FIR. However, no arrests have been made so far.
She has been admitted to a hospital, and her condition is stated to be stable.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
