WCD Minister Rekha Arya Admitted To Super-Speciality Hospital In Dehradun After Acute Chest Pain; Lodged FIR against husband under serious sections of BNS
SUNIL NEGI
Dehradun: Uttarakhand Women, Child Development and Empowerment Minister Rekha Arya has been admitted to a super-speciality hospital in Dehradun after she complained of acute chest pain Thursday evening, hours after releasing an emotional video accusing her husband of conspiracy to kill her.
A video is going viral on social media in which the minister, with a mask on her face, is being taken hurriedly inside the hospital on a stretcher by medical staff. Doctors at Krishna Medical Centre / Super Speciality Hospital said she is under observation and undergoing tests. Her condition is said to be stable.
Earlier on Thursday, Rekha Arya had released a video on Facebook in which she was literally in tears, looking extremely disturbed while explaining the trauma being faced by her due to her husband’s alleged physical and mental torture.
Along with the video, she posted two audio clips in which her husband Girdhari Lal Sahu alias Pappu Girdhari is allegedly heard hatching a conspiracy to harm her with his friend while talking on the phone. In the complaint, she has alleged that her husband gave Rs. 25 lakhs via RTGS to the friend for executing the plan.
“After hearing this audio, with pain in my heart, I had to take this decision. I had to file a complaint with the police to protect my children. Whether a woman is ordinary or prominent, she must not bear domestic atrocities,” she said in the video.
Based on her written complaint, an FIR has been registered at Cantonment Police Station, Dehradun under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) including 120B criminal conspiracy, 323 hurt, 420 cheating, 467/468/471 forgery, 495 concealment of former marriage, 498A cruelty, 504 insult, 506 criminal intimidation and sections 3(1)(d), 3(1)(dh), 3(2)(va) of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
In her complaint, the Someshwar MLA said she belongs to a Scheduled Caste notified in Uttarakhand and that her husband knew her caste status from the outset. She married him on July 6, 2004 under Hindu rites. He had told her he was unmarried at that time, but she later learnt he was already married with children. She also alleged illicit relations with other women, casteist abuse in front of staff at her government residence, and forgery of her signature to remove her as director from companies.
Meanwhile, an actor originally from the Kumaon region, now based in Mumbai, who has acted in several Hindi movies including Uttarakhand’s Garhwali and Kumaoni movies, has released a video assuring his total support to Rekha Arya during her bad days. In his video message, the actor said that the minister has always stood for women’s dignity and he stands firmly with her in this fight for justice.
The BJP government and state unit have not yet officially reacted to the FIR. Congress has termed the episode “a matter of utter shame for the BJP government”.
