Bhubaneswar:
Italy-born Odissi dancer Ileana Citaristi has been booked by the police for allegedly beating a student at her dance school in Bhubaneswar.
A case was registered against the 55-year-old Padma Shri award-winner after the student's father filed a police complaint, a senior police official told IANS.
In his complaint, the 10-year-old's father has reportedly said that his daughter was assaulted by Ms Citaristi on Sunday "over a trivial issue" in the classroom while she was taking a dance lesson.
The police have booked Ms Citaristi under sections 341 (wrongful restraint) and 321 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 23 of the Juvenile Justice Act (cruelty to juvenile or child). She is yet to comment on the allegations against her.
Ms Citaristi was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2006 for her contribution to Odissi dance.
In July last year, she had alleged that she was manhandled during the famous Lord Jagannath procession. In her complaint, she had said that she was beaten on the chariot for "refusing to pay money for a sighting of the deity".