Patna: A ruling party female legislator from Bihar, Bima Bharati, had to be admitted to a government hospital in a serious condition after she was badly battered, allegedly by her husband, after a family dispute.

Swinging into action, the police have arrested the accused husband on the basis of complaint lodged by his lawmaker wife.

Bharati, who is a legislator from chief minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), was elected to the state assembly from the Rupauli seat in eastern Bihar's Purnia district for the third consecutive time.

She is the wife of Awadhesh Mandal, described as the self-styled chief of a notorious Faizan Gang, active in the riverine areas of eastern Bihar.

Mandal, accused in more than a dozen criminal cases lodged with different police stations of Bihar, is also a district board member. Police said the lawmaker had complained her husband assaulted her badly with fists and sticks.

He was allegedly inebriated, and left his wife badly bruised and wounded on various parts of her body.

She was seriously injured, and admitted to hospital in a serious condition.