Sir,
This refers to The Pioneer’s article titled ‘Daring’ Taradatt shunted out from Prime Job’ on 21.5.2015. In the article he has been called the ‘indisputable honest officer’ who would come first in the rank in his community.
Sir, what is the definition of honestyIJ Can a man be called honest only if he does not accept bribeIJ Can a man be called honest even if his personal character is not cleanIJ I am the wife of Sri Taradatt. I have spent a long peaceful marital life of 34 four years and have a grownup son. I am a dedicated wife to the core who had blind faith on the husband.
But in June 2014 I discovered that my husband was maintaining an objectionable relation with another lady since 2009 who was an ex-colleague of his and is in Delhi now. For so many years, I was duped by both of them who posed themselves as brother and sister. But in 2014, I found out from their telephone details that they had a round-the-clock intimacy round the years. They talk for hours in and after the midnight. The total number of their telephone and messages in one month (30 days) is more than two thousands. I found out many more proofs like their visit together to third places and so on. I found a deep secret intimacy between them which defied all my imaginations.
Since such intimacies always pose danger to the life of the wronged spouse, I left my husband’s quarters and moved to my own flat in Forest Park (Bhubaneswar) out of fear of danger to my life.
I made a petition to the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary of Odisha about my husband’s relation with the lady along with all the proofs and begged justice which I am waiting for till now.
In order to escape his sin now, Sri Taradatt is trying his best to prove me mentally unsound. He is also propagating about some imaginary long-lasting marital discord between me and him which, according to him, caused me raise this issue to settle a score. It is also propagated by some of his misguided well-wishers that I am used by some people who are affected by the ‘Task Force Report’ (on Discretionary Quota land/house allotments) to make a conspiracy against Sri Taradatt.
I am past 57 now. What score I have to settle at this ageIJ Because of my objection to his inappropriate relation with another lady, I am homeless and bereft of the protection of a family. Is this the gain for which I made the allegation about his characterIJ After all, how I was benefitted by raising the issue except exposing the real nature of his so-called ‘honesty’IJ About the false propagation of my being used by the ‘Task Force-affected group’, I would like to make it clear that I left his quarters in June 2014 whereas he was assigned the duty of Task Force in August 2014.
Sir, even Ravana was a great administrator. He was so competent that his subjects could afford to live in golden buildings (Swarnamayi lanka). Can we glorify Ravana as honestIJ So also, Sri Taradatt might be an excellent officer. But calling him ‘honest’ is an insult to the word ‘honesty’. Should a man be called honest when he deceives his 57-year-old faithful wifeIJ Should a man who makes secret telephone calls to another woman under the cover of darkness at 2 am in the night be called honestIJ Should a man who maintains an objectionable relation with another lady even when his wife is alive be called ‘honest’IJ
A family is the smallest unit of the society. How can a man who is not honest to the family be honest to the societyIJ How can he be glorified as an ‘indisputably honest’ manIJ
Sri, Taradatt’s behaviour is a clear violation of the All India Service Conduct Rule 3(1) which says that “every member of the Service shall do nothing which is unbecoming of a member of the Service”. Certainly it is not becoming of an All India Service member to be unfaithful to his 57-year-old wife, make secretive telephone communications to a lady ex-colleague in the darkness of midnight and run after her like a mad person.
Yes, I agree on one point of the article that the PM should give justice to Sri Taradatt. And the real justice is not shunting out of his post but from his job.
(When this issue was raised during the last session of the State Assembly, Mr Taradatt had in his reaction to The Pioneer observed that this was a family matter not to be discussed in public.)