Balasore, Sept 7 (Odisha.in) An innocent woman is languishing in a jail in Orissa’s Balasore district even without committing any crime.
Her only crime is that her nick name matched with the name of the real culprit.
The woman Binapani Mukhi 38 a resident of Panchughanta village under Jaleswar police station was arrested on March 8, this year and subsequently she was sentenced to undergo two years of rigorous imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 2,000.
Though she pleaded before the police that she had not committed any crime, but the cops reportedly didn’t respond her plea.
The fact came to fore when Sandip Mohanty, a local lawyer told to the media persons about their plight on Thursday.
He said, actually Minati Mukhi is the real culprit who was arrested on charges of selling and possessing illegal country-made liquor on June 11, 1997, but later released on bail.
“When the First-track Court of Jaleswar pronounced the judgment on May 19, 2001, Minati didn’t attend the court and the court had to issue an arrest warrant against her. But the local police arrested Binapani in place of Minati and the court pronounced the judgement on Binapani,” he told Odisha.in.
Since then, Gourisankar Mukhi, husband of Binapani has been writing letters to the President of India, Prime Minister, Governor of Orissa, Chief Minister and Human Rights Commission to free his innocent wife from the jail custody, but to no avail.
Admitting it as a case of mistaken identity Sudarshan Barik, sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Jaleswar, told, “Second officer of Jaleswar police station Sarojini Singh arrested Binapani as because the locals identified Binapani as Minati, which is her nick name.”
On Thursday, Balasore SP P S Ranpise has ordered an inquiry into the whole incident. “Stringent action will be taken against the erring officer if she is found to be guilty,” he added.
Odisha.in