Woman assaulted in Odisha over child theft rumour, two held

ROURKELA: A father and son duo were on Sunday forwarded to court by Plant Site police on charges of assaulting a woman a week ago at Indiranagar slum of Gopabandhupali suspecting her of being a child lifter.

Police said after a complaint was received on Saturday night, Atul Sharma (53) and his son Suraj (23), were on Sunday arrested and forwarded to court for assaulting the woman.The woman, in her early 30s and married, in the complaint lodged with the police alleged that she was brutally beaten by the accused on the night of June 17.

The woman was accosted by the accused, who suspected her to be a child lifter, when she was returning home after attending a marriage function, police said quoting the complaint.She was thrashed by the accused who also tried to sexually assault her. They thought she was dead and threw her near the railway track early in the morning, the woman alleged in her complaint. She was subsequently hospitalised. After her recovery, some social activists helped her to lodge a police complaint on Saturday.
(With Agency inputs)