Suspended OAS officer ties nuptial knot inside jail

Bhubaneswar, Apr 19 (UNI) In yet another case of marriage inside a jail, an Orissa Administrative Officer(OAS) today tied the knot with a young girl on whose complaint of sexual harassment, the Officer was suspended and put behind the bars.

Two days back in just a similar case, a santhali youth, inmate of the Baripada Circle Jail, tied the knot inside the prison with the girl whom he allegedly raped.

The santhali youth was convinced to accept the girl as he had fathered the baby born to her in November last. The marriage was solemnised inside the jail as per the santhal custom with the help of Mayurbhanj based Rural Development Action Cell(RDAC), in whose short stay home the girl was given shelter.

In a similar case, OAS officer Srikanta Dalei, an undertrial in the Bhubaneswar Special jail, tied the knot with one Jyosthnarani Panda with whom he had allegedly kept sexual relationship with the promise to marry but later deserted her when she became pregnant.

The lady had lodged an FIR with the Saheed Nagar Police station, alleging that she was sexually exploited by Dalei, an Assistant Project Officer in the District Rural Development Agency(DRDA) in Bolangir.

The Officer was arrested under section 493 IPC for cohabiting by promising marriage and sent to jail on March 31 last after his bail petition was rejected.

Mr Dalei was later persuaded by some NGOs to marry the girl and he readily agreed to the proposal.

Accordingly, the marriage date was finalised and the girl along with the social activists of Maa Ghar, an NGO working for the welfare of the deserted women, arrived at the Bhubaneswar Special Jail.

A special mandap was erected inside the jail close to a temple and the marriage was solemnised as per the Hindu rites in presence of several invitees who included the senior officials of the jail, several NGO representatives besides the media.

Nearly 200 inmates of the Bhubaneswar Special jail participated in the marriage which was followed by a feast served to the invitees.

The OAS officer later told the visiting newsmen that it was a misunderstanding that led to such an unfortunate situation which he realised and agreed to marry the girl, a Para-Medical student.

UNI