Man arrested for assault on ASHA worker in Odisha

A man has been arrested for allegedly misbehaving with a community health worker at a village in Jajpur district of Odisha.

The accused, who was arrested on Wednesday, has been identified as 32-year-old Sudarshan Pradhan alias Pakua, said Susanta Kumar Das, Inspector-in-charge of Jenapur police station.

The accredited social health activist (ASHA) worker had gone to Betamali Sasan village to distribute free sanitary napkins among schoolgirls under the state governments Khusi scheme on Saturday afternoon.

Pakua met the community health worker on the village road and asked her to give some free sanitary napkins. When she refused to give him the same as he had no school going girl child at his home, the accused allegedly scolded her in improper language, the police said.

When the ASHA worker protested, he allegedly assaulted her on the road, the woman said in her complaint.

The accused even threatened to kill her and her son, the police said.

Following the incident, the woman approached the sarpanch of the panchayat the following day, but no action was taken, she alleged.

She filed a complaint with the police against the accused on Monday.

"Based on the report, we registered a case, started investigation and arrested the accused under relevant sections of the IPC last night," said the IIC.