Seema
Patra, now-suspended leader of the Jharkhand BJP, was booked after a complaint alleging,
she abused her domestic help and has been sent to 14 days judicial custody, PTI
reported. Wife of retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Maheshwar
Patra, Seema Patra was a member of Jharkhand BJP’s national executive. She was
suspended from her party after a video of a woman who identifies as her house
help, Sunita, went viral.

Sunita’s
account

In the
video, Sunita, the domestic help, can be seen lying on a hospital bed with wounds
on her face and body. The 29-year-old woman, struggles as she speaks, and says
she was held captive, tortured and beaten with rods and an iron pan. Many of
her teeth were missing and she was unable to sit up, according to an NDTV
report.

Also Read | Jharkhand police arrests BJP’s Seema Patra for allegedly torturing tribal help

Sunita
claimed she was made to like urine off the floor and alleged that her teeth
were broken with an iron rod. She further said she wasn’t given any food or
water.

Help
from Seema Patra’s son

Sunita
further says in the video that she is alive only because of Ayushman Patra,
Seema Patra’s son. Ayushman was disturbed over the way his mother was treating
Sunita and reached out to his friend Vivek Anand Baskey, a government official,
who went to the cops. Police acted on Vivek Anand Baskey’s tip off and arrested
Seema Patra.

Meanwhile,
Seema Patra, after finding out that her son was trying to help Sunita, got him
admitted to the Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences. When
asked about her son’s involvement in the case, she said he was sick.

What
Seema Patra said

Seema Patra,
the accused, has maintained her innocence. “I am innocent,” she said while
being led away by the police. “These are false allegations, politically motivated
allegations. I have been implicated,” she added.

What is
the BJP doing?

The Jharkhand
BJP, which has been busy calling for the resignation of Chief Minister and Jharkhand
Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren, has had to take urgent action after the
video surfaced.  The party has formed a
committee to investigate the incident. Additionally, Jharkhand Governor Ramesh
Bais met Jharkhand DGP Neeraj Sinha over the delay in action against Patra.