NSUI's Odisha unit president arrested for 'raping' engineering student, BJP stages protests

NEW DELHI: In a major embarrassment for opposition Congress in Odisha, which has been highlighting rising crimes against women in the state, its student wing chief Udit Pradhan was arrested for allegedly raping a 19-year-old woman engineering student at a hotel here, police said on Monday. The incident occurred on March 18 but came to light on Sunday after the student lodged a complaint at Mancheswar police station, alleging that National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) state head had laced her drink with an intoxicating substance and raped her in the hotel, a senior officer said.

NSUI national president Varun Choudhary suspended Pradhan with immediate effect and said the party's students’ wing maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards gender-based injustice. "Based on the complaint by the student, an FIR was registered at Mancheswar police station and the accused was arrested on Sunday," Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissionerate additional commissioner (Zone-V) Biswaranjan Senapati said.

The engineering student also accused Pradhan of threatening her with dire consequences if she disclosed the alleged incident, he said. "I was silent due to Pradhan's influence. However, as women’s allegations are now being attended to, I dared to lodge a complaint against him," the student said in her plaint. "The accused has been booked under various provisions, including rape and criminal intimidation, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita," another officer said. Pradhan's supporters, however, staged a demonstration before the police station, protesting against the arrest.

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Congress sets up probe panel

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das on Monday constituted a six-member fact-finding team, headed by its vice-president Sasmita Behera, to probe into the allegations against Pradhan and meet the student. The panel will submit its report to the state Congress committee at the earliest, a party release said. "The party has already taken action against him. We have a zero tolerance approach towards atrocities against women. The party believes in equal justice. We have also formed a fact-finding committee to inquire the allegation," Das said.

The Congress leader alleged that attempts were being made to disrupt the party’s ongoing fight over the death of two women in Balasore and Puri districts. On July 17, the Congress observed a statewide bandh in protest against the self-immolation of a woman student in Balasore, demanding accountability and justice. In all, 14 Congress MLAs were suspended during the previous Assembly session for pressing the government to form a House Committee to probe a series of recent sexual assault cases against women in Odisha.

Rahul Gandhi has also strongly condemned the BJP-led Odisha government, criticising the rise in rape cases and questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue. Meanwhile, members of youth BJP and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (AVBP), the student wing of RSS, staged separate protests here in front of Congress Bhawan. They burnt posters and effigies of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Das. The activists also demanded resignation of Das on moral grounds. "The real face of Congress was exposed today with the arrest of NSUI president. Despite he being directly involved in several cases in the past, the party appointed him in the post,” alleged state president of BJP’s youth wing, Abhilash Panda.