'I'm Shaken': Uttarakhand Minister Accuses Husband Of Bigamy, Assault, Posts Video

Uttarakhand's Women and Child Development Minister, Rekha Arya, has filed an FIR against her husband, Girdhari Lal Sahu. She alleges assault, casteist abuse and a conspiracy to kill her, and accuses him of hiding an earlier marriage and having relationships with other women. Hours after she posted a video on Facebook on Thursday in which she broke down describing the allegations, she was admitted to Krishna Medical Centre in Dehradun, where she was undergoing tests.

Arya alleges that Sahu used casteist slurs against her in front of staff at her government residence. She also alleges he forged her signature to show her as removed from the post of director in some companies.

Her husband and the government had not reacted at the time of filing this report

The FIR, registered at the Cantonment police station in Dehradun, invokes charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, bigamy, cruelty by a husband, causing hurt, insult and criminal intimidation, along with sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Arya also posted two audio clips. In her complaint, she says she recently received an audio in which Sahu, speaking to a woman, is allegedly heard conspiring to kill her. "The complainant and her minor children face a constant threat to their lives. This man can carry out a major incident at any time," the complaint said.

Arya, the BJP MLA from Someshwar in Almora district and a member of the Pushkar Singh Dhami cabinet, said in her complaint that she belongs to a Scheduled Caste notified in Uttarakhand. She says Sahu, also known as Pappu Girdhari, a resident of Jogi Nawada in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, is not a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe and knew of her caste status from the outset. The two married under Hindu rites on July 6, 2004.

According to the complaint, Sahu told Arya at the time of the marriage that he was unmarried. She learnt "some years later" that he was already married and had children from that marriage. By then she had children of her own, and she said she stayed silent on her family's advice and "for the children's future".

Arya said Sahu's behaviour towards her changed recently and that she came to know of his "illicit relations" with other women. When she objected, he initially admitted his mistake and gave her a written and oral apology, but did not change, the complaint said. When she opposed these relationships, he began assaulting and abusing her and threatened to kill her, she alleged. "On several occasions, he used casteist words in a humiliating manner in front of staff at the complainant's government residence," the complaint read.

The complaint further alleged that Sahu forged her signature and used fake documents to show her as having been removed from the post of director in "concerned companies". It said she "neither executed any such document nor submitted any resignation".

In her video, she said the audio had "shaken" her and "put a question mark on my relationship".

"Is this the result one gets for living with truth and honesty?" she asked.

"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, for the safety of my children," she said.

"Whether a woman is ordinary or prominent, she must not bear domestic atrocities. She must not bear them; she must speak out," Arya said.

She said she had always discharged her duties "with the Constitution as witness" and would continue to do so, and that her maternal family had always stood by her. "Even in this pain, I have not forgotten my duty... For anything further, I am speechless," she said.

The Congress called the episode “a matter of utter shame for the BJP government”.

“If a minister of the state is herself saying that her life is under threat from her husband, and filing a police complaint against him, it is certainly a matter of utter shame for the government,” Congress spokesperson Garima Mehra Dasauni said.

She demanded that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami state what steps had been taken for Arya's safety and what action had been taken on the complaint. “Our demand is clear: there should be a fair investigation into the complaint, a forensic examination of the audio, and if the allegations are proven, strict action in accordance with the law. Women's safety is not a political slogan; it is the government's responsibility,” she said.