‘I’m a public representative, yet I faced this’: Uttarakhand minister who accused husband of assault

Uttarakhand Women and Child Development Minister Rekha Arya said on Saturday that she had chosen to make her allegations of domestic violence against her husband public to encourage other women to speak out against abuse. Her remarks come amid a dispute with her husband, Girdhari Lal Sahu, who has accused her of amassing illegal assets worth Rs 210 crore.

Speaking from a hospital, where she was admitted on Friday after her health deteriorated, Arya said she had decided to take her complaints to the authorities despite concerns about the social and political consequences of disclosing details of her private life. This comes after Arya, a Dalit leader, alleged in her October 15 police complaint that her husband had concealed his first marriage from her and subjected her to physical abuse, verbal harassment and threats, including caste-based insults.

“I knew that the media would ask a lot of questions, that there would be opposition and that many things would happen. But I wanted to tell women that domestic violence should not be tolerated, and that they should speak out against it,” she said.

“I am a public representative. I handle several departments. Yet, if I have faced this, then what should an ordinary woman do? That is the message I wanted to convey,” she added.

Arya’s remarks came two days after she lodged an FIR against Sahu at Dehradun’s Cantt police station, accusing him of physical assault, harassment, caste-based abuse and death threats. In her complaint, dated October 15, she also alleged that Sahu had concealed an earlier marriage from her and used forged documents to remove her from directorships in certain companies.

She also referred to an audio recording that she claims contains a conversation between Sahu and another woman about a plan to kill her. Sahu has disputed the recording’s authenticity, describing it as fake, AI-generated and fabricated. He has also rejected Arya’s allegations against him as baseless.

On Friday, Sahu released a video in which he accused Arya of accumulating illegal assets worth Rs 210 crore and urged Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to order an investigation. He did not provide documentary evidence to substantiate the allegations, saying he would disclose details later. He also asked Arya to withdraw her FIR and retract her statements.

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In the video, Sahu claimed to have managed Arya’s election campaigns and sought votes for her for 17 years. He accused her of becoming arrogant after assuming public office and warned her that she would be held accountable if she did not withdraw her allegations.

Arya, meanwhile, said she had struggled with the same pressures that often prevent women from reporting abuse, including fear of social judgment and uncertainty about their future.

“When the matter came to me, I too had all these worries — what would people say, what would society say, what would happen to my political future, what would the media say,” she said.

“But the ordinary women who used to come to me with their problems, whom I advised to fight for their rights and not tolerate injustice, would apply that advice to me as well,” she added.

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Arya alleged that the abuse she had experienced was not limited to physical violence but also involved mental, social, economic and political dimensions. She said she had decided to seek legal recourse and submitted a written complaint detailing her allegations.

Her decision to speak publicly, she said, was deliberate. Rather than handle the matter privately, she wanted to demonstrate that women could pursue justice even when doing so carried personal or professional costs.

“I did not hide it. I knew there would be many questions. I wanted to give the message that even an ordinary woman, leaving aside all these worries, should stand up for herself and fight for herself,” she said.

Asked what her case meant for women in Uttarakhand, particularly in the context of the ongoing public debate over the 2022 murder of Ankita Bhandari, Arya said she wanted women to have confidence in the police and the legal process.

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“I have complete faith that the Uttarakhand Police, which delivers justice to an ordinary woman, will work in the same way for me. I want to give this trust to people,” she said.

On Saturday, a Special Investigation Team comprising around 10 members was constituted to investigate the case.

Arya also expressed sympathy for Ankita Bhandari’s family, saying her party had stood by them following the young woman’s murder.

“The entire party was with that family in every way. I have complete sympathy with them. They are, anyway, a part of my family,” she said.