A video of a tribal woman, who worked as a domestic help in Jharkhand, accusing her employers of brutal torture and abuse has surfaced online. In the video, the victim, Sunita painstakingly recounts the details of the torture allegedly inflicted upon her by her employer, Seema Patra. As the videos went viral, several major news media outlets covered this story wherein they identified Patra as the “wife of an ex-IAS officer”. ANI tweeted, “Police team rescued a 29-yr-old woman working as a domestic help at the residence of an-ex IAS officer on Aug 22, after she was allegedly physically tortured by her employer.” (Archived link) Ranchi, Jharkhand | Police team rescued a 29-yr-old woman working as a domestic help at the residence of an-ex IAS officer on Aug 22, after she was allegedly physically tortured by her employer. Case registered; probe on. The woman is currently undergoing medical treatment:Police — ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2022 Pro-BJP propaganda outlet OpIndia tweeted their stories both in Hindi and English. The English caption reads, “Wife of Ex-IAS booked for torturing maid, a tribal woman, used to force her to clean toilet with tongue”, and the Hindi caption reads, “Domestic help tortured with a frying pan, thrashed with an iron rod, forced to clean faeces with her tongue: if the son objected, he was called ‘crazy’ and was sent to a mental hospital.” (Archived links- 1 and 2) Times Now tweeted a clip of their coverage of this story with the hashtag #ShameSecularHypocrisy. The caption also identified the accused as the “wife of ex IAS officer”. In a subsequent tweet, Times now used another hashtag #SorenMustResign while reporting on the incident. (Archived links- 1, 2) #ShameSecularHypocrisy ‘Abused’ Tribal worker rescued from former-IAS officers house in #Ranchi | Assailant is #SeemaPatra, wife of an ex IAS officer, son who defended the domestic worker was also locked up in a room: @BannaGupta76 @MohitBhatt90 & @anchoramitaw with details pic.twitter.com/QCg2VNzxHq — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) August 30, 2022 DNA tweeted their report with the caption “Ex-IAS officer’s wife #SeemaPatra accused of torturing maid, her son shielded the victim”. (Archived link) #Ranchi | Ex-IAS officer’s wife #SeemaPatra accused of torturing maid, her son shielded the victimhttps://t.co/PlyXawOhGG — DNA (@dna) August 30, 2022 Dainik Bhaskar tweeted their story with the caption, “रिटायर्ड IAS की पत्नी ने 8 साल बंधक रखा: दिव्यांग बोली- जीभ से फर्श साफ करवाया, पेशाब पिलाई; सालों से सूरज की रोशनी नहीं देखी”. This caption, like the others, only decsribed Seema Patra as the wife of a retired IAS officer. (Archived link) रिटायर्ड IAS की पत्नी ने 8 साल बंधक रखा: दिव्यांग बोली- जीभ से फर्श साफ करवाया, पेशाब पिलाई; सालों से सूरज की रोशनी नहीं देखीhttps://t.co/Akzre8HZxv#Ranchi pic.twitter.com/qGiD1raZUM — Dainik Bhaskar (@DainikBhaskar) August 30, 2022 Republic Bharat also identified Seema Patra as the wife of an IAS officer. (Archived link) #ArrestSeemaPatra | हैवानियत भी शर्मसार: IAS अफसर की बीवी सीमा पात्रा ने लड़की को बनाया बंधक, तवे से दागा, जीभ से साफ कराया टॉयलेटhttps://t.co/QGmYYWmuLs — रिपब्लिक भारत (@Republic_Bharat) August 30, 2022 Analysing Seema Patra’s social media Based on Seema Patra’s social media presence, it can be ascertained that Patra is a BJP worker. Her Facebook page bio reads, “State Convener, Beti Bachao – Beti Padhao, BJP Jharkhand Member – National Working Committee, BJP MA” while her Twitter bio reads “Member National Working Committee M.morcha State Convenor, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, State In-charge Policy & Research”. Her Facebook page cover photo (check below) is a picture with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, most likely clicked in 2018. The last post on her Facebook page is from April 2019, in which she can be seen campaigning for BJP during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Alt News found that the official handle of BJP Mahila Morcha uploaded a photo of Seema Patra along with other BJP workers on April 6, 2022, from the inauguration of “BJP Foundation Day” program at the National Office in New Delhi. Her name has also been mentioned in the caption (Archived link). On June 2, 2022, BJP Mahila Morcha Meghalaya’s Facebook page also uploaded a picture of a virtual meeting about the Mahila morcha training camps. Seema Patra can be seen in the meeting and has been identified as an “executive member” in the caption. We also found a News 11 video coverage on Seema Patra’s page, identifying Seema as BJP’s Beti Padhao Beti Bachao State Convenor. In the video, Patra can be seen giving a speech to schoolchildren on the occasion of Independence Day, as part of a Beti Padhao Beti Bachao committee. The video was shared on Seema’s page in April 2019.