A Jharkhand woman who had claimed that a BJP minister in the state government had married her and fathered her three-year-old son withdrew her claims in a mysterious volte face on Sunday.
Agriculture minister Satyanand Jha Batul, a first-time legislator from the BJP from Nala constituency, brought embarrassment to the Arjun Munda-led government after a woman named Soni Devi from Jamtara claimed that he had been avoiding her and her son, Vishal, and thus causing them great pain. He said the woman’s claims were “baseless and false” and that they could be part of a “political conspiracy again-st me to blackmail me”.
“He (Batul) should take his son back and allow me to be hanged to death. My parents now refuse to take me back,” said Soni Devi, a schoolteacher, weeping profusely before journalists on Saturday. “Is it a good thing to marry a woman and father a child before becoming MLA and minister and then discard them altogether? I want a paternity test to prove that he (Batul) is my son’s father,” she had added.
Claiming that the minister became close to her after the death of his first wife, she said they had relations since 1994 before marrying at the Deoghar temple in 1996. She also appealed to the chief minister to bring her justice and reduce her pain. Devi had sent Mr Batul a legal notice in June, in which she had alleged that the minister had been torturing her for dowry.
Mr Batul’s family, however, rejected these claims. “There are simply no photographs or any documents to support her claim that they ever married,” said Bablu, a relative of the minister’s. Mr Batul also said he was ready for a DNA test. BJP’s Jharkhand president Dineshanand Goswami said he had asked Mr Batul to clarify his position. Jharkhand Assembly Speaker C.P. Singh said the state government must take suitable action on the woman’s claims.