Minister files divorce application after torture charge

An Uttar Pradesh status rank minister, who had recently shared a video riding a virtual bike and dancing, which was recorded using video app Tik-Tok, filed a divorce application in a court after his wife accused him of ''torture'' and ''harassment''.

Baburam Nishad, who was chairman of the UP Backward Class Finance & Development Corporation and enjoyed the status of a minister of state, accused his wife of being a ''spendthrift'' in his divorce application filed before a court in the state's Hamirpur district, on Wednesday.

The minister's wife, however, shot off a letter to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleging that Nishad, with whom she was married for 14 years, has been ''torturing'' her since their wedding.

''He (Nishad) used to threaten me at gun point... urinate on me and thrash me badly....he also used to threaten to kill my parents and brothers,'' she said in her letter.

The wife also said that she had filed a police complaint at Kaiserbagh police station in the state capital a few months back but the cops, in apparent collusion with the minister, disposed off her complaint without taking any action against Nishad.

She urged the chief minister to act against his husband. The wife has also narrated her plight in a series of posts on Facebook.

Nishad, however, rejected the allegations and said that his wife always ''quarrelled'' with him. ''She always demands money... she spends a lot,'' the minister said.