Bhubaneswar: In the matter of the sprinter Dutee Chand’s FIR against a web portal editor for publishing derogatory content, the editor Sudhanshu Rout has been sent to judicial custody today after Court rejected his bail petition. Earlier on the day he was arrested by Police and later had been produce in the Court.
As per reports, web portal editor Sudhanshu Rout and Reporter Smruti Ranjan Behera were produced in the Court of the SDJM Court in Bhubaneswar. The Court rejected bail petition of the two and hence they were sent to 14 days judicial custody.
In the meanwhile trouble for Sudhanshu Rout has escalated as old cases against him have surfaced. As per reports, Rout was involved in a matter that had been complained in the Mangalpur Police Station area of Jajpur in 2016. Bhubaneswar DCP has said that if anybody brings allegation that will be investigated.
On the other hand, conveying her happiness over the immediate action, Dutee Chand has thanked Odisha Police.
It is to be noted that Dutee had made serious allegations ranging from threats, defamation, sexual harassment insulting modesty and others against Rout. “A case has been registered under Sections 292 (2), 354, 385, 506, 509 and 120-B IPC along with Section 6 of indecent representation of women (prohibition) act, 1986,” earlier Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Bhubaneswar, Umashankar Das had said.
Sprinter Dutee had lodged complaint against two journalists Rout and his reporter Smruti Ranjan Behera, and a social activist Pradeep Pradhan alleging that they had published objectionable content against her prior to the Tokyo Olympics, which had an adverse impact on her performance. She had also filed a Rs 5 crore defamation case in civil court in Bhubaneswar in this regard.
Dutee thanked the police for taking immediate action on this case and hoped that action will also be taken against other two persons against whom she had brought allegations.
“I had been mentally harassed and had to face a character assassination. This kind of slur had an adverse impact on my performance during the Tokyo Olympics. They made an issue with my character and gender which was very distasteful. Today I am relaxed as one person has been detained and I am confident that I will get justice,” she added.
(With inputs from IANS)
Ms Kalinga