Parents seek Citaristi’s arrest for ‘misbehaving’ with their daughter

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Mar 13:

More than one and a half months after Italy-born Odissi dancer and Padmashri awardee Ileana Citaristi allegedly misbehaved with their daughter, the parents of the girl approached the Human Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on Thursday accusing the Commissionerate police of inaction in the matter.

Alleging that police had failed to take any action against Citaristi for misbehaving with their daughter, one of her students, on January 19 this year, the parents demanded her immediate arrest.

Father Kamala Kanta Dash, along with his daughter Divyarupa, went to the OHRC office here and submitted a memorandum urging the Commissioner to take appropriate action against Citaristi and the police personnel taking time to act on his complaint.

Dash said that the commissioner discussed the whole matter with him as well as his daughter. He  hoped to get a positive response from the Commission, he added.

A complaint in this regard was lodged with Lingaraj police station by the victim’s father KK Dash of Kedar Lane in Old Town Bhubaneswar on January 19. But the police registered a case in this regard after spending two days studying its pros and cons.

According to Dash, Citaristi, who runs an Odissi dance school at Bindu Sagar, had misbehaved with his daughter over some issue. He, however, declined to divulge the details of the encounter between the Odissi dancer and his daughter.

Sources said Citaristi has been giving lessons in Odissi dance to 40-50 students in her dance class.