BJD corporator held for raping minor in '23; suspended from party
An embarrassed BJD, which had been criticising the BJP govt over an alleged rise in crimes against women, suspended the Bhubaneswar corporator from the party.
"We traced Jena to one of his acquaintance's residence in Nilagiri area of Balasore district. The acquaintance's suspected role of providing him shelter is being examined. On Saturday, we had arrested five associates of Jena for aiding his escape," assistant commissioner of police (zone-4) Abhimanyu Nayak said.
Jena's arrest comes days after the city police arrested Udit Pradhan, state president of Congress's student wing, in a
rape case
.
Jena's arrest followed a complaint lodged by the survivor on July 23. The complainant, currently aged 19, claimed Jena had sexually abused her in 2023, when she was underage.
According to her FIR, their initial meeting took place in June 2023 during Raja festivities, which subsequently led to friendship.
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She alleged that she was two months pregnant following the sexual assault and had to go for an abortion in Feb last year, following Jena's assurance that he would marry her after divorcing his wife.
But since April this year, Jena has been avoiding her, she claimed, and also issued death threats, asking her to leave the city. In her police complaint, she threatened self-immolation if the issue went unaddressed.
Refusing to respond on the delayed reporting of the incident, ACP Nayak said, "Based on the girl's statement, we found prima facie evidence against the accused and arrested him."
Jena was booked under BNS Sections 64(2) (m) (repeated rape), 89 (causing miscarriage without the woman's consent), 296 (obscene acts in public), 351 (2) (criminal intimidation) and under Section 6 of the
Pocso Act
(aggravated sexual assault of minor).
While being taken to court, Jena pointed fingers at a woman who was arrested in Bhubaneswar in 2022 for allegedly operating a high-profile sextortion network. "I am sure she framed me," said Jena, who had filed a defamation complaint with the police against the woman on July 22.
Jena's family members and relatives, protesting near the police station, also claimed he was framed. "On July 22, Jena had lodged a complaint against a woman for defaming and attempting to extort money from him. The very next day, an unknown girl lodged a rape case against him," a family member alleged.
The woman, however, dismissed the allegations. "I am in no way linked with the case. I do not know the rape case's complainant. Jena is unnecessarily dragging me into the controversy," she said.
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