Rekha Arya, the Women and Child Development Minister, posted a tear‑filled video on Facebook Thursday, claiming her husband Girdhari Lal Sahu had used casteist slurs in front of staff, forged her signature and plotted to kill her. Hours later she was admitted to Krishna Medical Centre in Dehradun for tests after the allegations. She said the audio clip she received, in which her husband allegedly confesses to a conspiracy, had left her shaken.
The couple wed under Hindu rites on 6 July 2004, but Arya says she only learned years later that Sahu was already married and had children from that earlier union. The FIR, lodged at the Cantonment police station, charges him with criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, bigamy, cruelty and intimidation under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Congress spokesperson Garima Mehra Dasauni slammed the incident as a ‘matter of utter shame for the BJP government’ and demanded that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami detail the steps taken for Arya’s safety. “Women’s safety is not a slogan; it is a responsibility,” she added, calling for a forensic examination of the audio.
The police have registered the complaint and are conducting the forensic analysis while the state gears up for its next elections at the end of the year. The outcome of the investigation could influence the BJP’s standing in the upcoming polls, with opposition parties already vowing to keep a close watch.