In a significant development in the sensational dowry harassment case of Barsa Swony Choudhury (23) in which a former minister of Odisha and his family members were arrested earlier this year, a maintenance case has been filed in the Balasore family court against the woman's husband Rajashree Mohanty.
Rajashree, his father, former minister and BJD MLA from Basta Raghunath Mohanty and mother Pritilata Mohanty are now on condition bail. They were arrested following the dowry torture allegation by Barsa, a resident of Bhoisahi here, in Balasore town police station on March 14.
Barsa’s counsel Amar Ballav Nanda confirmed that a maintenance case seeking Rs 60,000 per month towards her study and other expenditures had been filed. The petition was lodged on the basis of the claims made by the Mohanty family while obtaining the conditional bail from the court of District and Sessions judge of Balasore.
“They had submitted a pay slip of a private company where Rajashree claimed to have been working and it was mentioned that he was drawing Rs 1,65,000 per month. Besides, they denied to have demanded dowry citing that Rajashree was earning Rs 10 lakh more per annum from his hotel business and landed properties, apart from his salary. Basing on the claims, we have demanded Rs 60,000 per month towards maintenance,” Nanda said adding that the case has been registered.
Meanwhile, Barsa has been shifted to Bhubaneswar and studying MBA in HR and Finance in a private management college there. Her father Kishore Kumar Choudhury hoped the court would decide in their favour while granting the amount as per the legal provisions which would definitely help for her higher studies.
Barsa said after the case was registered she has been staying along with her parents and depending on her father's income. "I require more money for my higher studies. That's why I have filed the maintenance case and the money I expect to get will meet my study expenses," she added.
While after the incident, Raghunath had to lose his ministerial berth and the vice-president post of BJD, the ruling party too lost miserably in the recently concluded Jaleswar NAC election. Incidentally, Raghunath was projecting his son as the party’s candidate from Jaleswar constituency in 2014 Assembly polls.
Earlier, Barsa had moved the High Court, seeking cancellation of bail granted to her husband Rajashree and father-in-law by the lower courts. In her petition, she had alleged that Raghunath and Rajashree had violated the conditions imposed on them by the lower courts while granting bail.
Rajashree however could not be contacted for comment. His counsel Niranjan Panda told media persons that Rajashree lost his job after his arrest and he had no such hotel business. "When he earns nothing, how can he pay such a huge amount? However, we are yet to receive the notice. We would fight the case accordingly," he added.
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