Jharkhand BJP leader held for ‘torturing’ maid

New Delhi, August 31

Suspended Jharkhand BJP leader Seema Patra was today sent to judicial custody for 14 days after being produced before a Ranchi court following her arrest in a shocking case of brutal assault on a house help over eight years.

Sunita, the domestic help, who served the Patra household for a decade, was recovered yesterday in a state the police called “indescribable”.

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Sunita (29) said she had been held captive for eight years. The domestic worker had assault marks all over her person, several of her teeth were missing, and she had been scalded. In now viral videos, Sunita, narrating her ordeal, said she was alive because of Seema Patra’s son Ayushman, who helped her rescue.

“I am alive only because of him,” Sunita is heard saying even as she speaks of her employer forcing her to lick urine, beating her up with iron rods and hot pans.

Sunita is currently under treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi.

She was rescued on a complaint of Vivek Basky, a government officer, in whom Ayushman confided about the torture his mother was inflicting on the house help.

Basky’s complaint led to an FIR under provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities against the SCs and STs Act and IPC anti-assault sections.

The police then raided Seema Patra’s Ashok Nagar residence and nabbed her. While being whisked away, Patra claimed she was being framed and was innocent.