Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the principal Opposition party in Odisha, has called a six-hour bandh in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday to protest against the alleged manhandling of the Army captain and his fiancée at a police station here.

The shutdown will be effective from 6am.

Addressing a media conference here on Sunday, BJD vice- president Debi Prasad Mishra said: “The torture of a woman inside the police station has demeaned Odisha at the national level. The bandh will be observed to intensify the protest against police brutality. The state government should hand over the case for a court-monitored judicial probe.”

Deputy chief minister K.V. Singh Deo said: “We are taking all steps to ensure justice in the case. But why is there a demand for a judicial probe? The Naveen Patnaik government had set up 24 judicial commissions but the reports are yet to be made public.”

The crime branch, which is probing the incident, is considering a lie-detection test on the five police personnel, including the inspector, accused of sexually harassing the fiancée of the Army captain and putting the latter in the lockup. They are also likely to conduct a lie-detection test on the captain’s fiancée.

The police have been accused of manhandling the couple when they sought their help on the intervening night of September 14 and September 15 in connection with a road rage incident. Instead of rescuing the couple, the police allegedly misbehaved with them, put the captain in the lockup and sexually abused his girlfriend. All the five police officials have been suspended.

The Congress has staged a demonstration on the issue. Rahul Gandhi took to X and said the incident was shameful for the entire humanity. The Congress has also urged the Chief of Army Staff to tell the Prime Minister that mistreatment of soldiers or their families would not be tolerated in the country. It also wondered if any BJP activists were involved in the attack. “The youths were repeatedlytaking the name of chief minister Mohan Majhi while harassing and threatening the woman,” Congress leader Amiya Pandav said.

The seven engineering students, who were arrested by the police on the charges of assaulting the couple, have got bail. Another five people involved in the attack are still absconding. “We will soon trace them. But people involved in harassing the captain and the fiancée are in no way linked with the chief minister,” said a senior police official.

Sources in the army said they were keeping an eye on the misleading counter-narrative being propagated by the police. “After being put on the back foot, they’re releasing selective, edited clips to shift the blame onto the Captain and his fiancée,” said sources.

The army sources also maintained that it was not an offence for an Army captain to party at a restaurant. “The couple engaged in a brawl as a natural response to harassment,” said sources.

“Why would the couple voluntarily go to the police station if they were at fault? The woman shouting is natural. It’s a natural reaction for her partner after being abused or threatened. The police withholding footage of the captain documenting their misconduct with his fiancée itself highlights their ill-intention. We demand justice,” a senior official said.