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Bhubaneswar: Though five months have passed since the alleged gang rape of the Kunduli girl and two months since her suicide, mystery still shrouds the whole incident. Even family members of the girl have lost their faith on the judicial probe ordered by the State government and have demanded that the case should be handed over to the CBI or closed.
"My daughter demanded punishment for the accused and was hopeful that the government will provide justice. But the government killed my daughter," said the victim's mother.
"The government is not revealing the truth and trying to suppress the case. Nothing came out of the Crime Branch and judicial probe. If government does not want to order a CBI probe, it should close the case," said the victim's brother.
On the other hand, the lawyer in charge of the judicial probe assured that truth will definitely come out.
"Investigation will be conducted to ascertain whether there was rape or not. If there was rape who committed it and what led the victim to commit suicide," said Prabhakar Patnaik, Public Prosecutor, Koraput.
The girl from Kunduli, on October 10 last year had alleged gang rape by four uniformed personnel. The incident sent shockwaves across Odisha with opposition confronting the government demanding arrest of the accused. Six days after the incident police detained four persons of her village for interrogation but were unable to find any clue. Later, the girl alleged she was offered bribe by the DGP to change her statement. Tangled amid her poor health condition and the prolonged probe, she committed suicide on January 11, 2018.
While the investigating officers of Odisha police claimed that the Kunduli girl was not subjected to any ‘sexual assault,’ copy of a report of the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) fell in the hands of OTV which revealed that traces of semen were found on her clothes.
Opposition again targeted the government and concerns were expressed over the credibility of the SFSL report. Following this, Odisha DGP RP Sharma directed re-examination of the victim’s clothes at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Kolkata.
However, the CFSL gave a clean chit to SFSL report stating no traces of semen were found on the victim’s clothes.
Koraput police had initiated the probe into the case which was later taken over by Crime Branch. A judicial probe was ordered by the Odisha government on December 26, 2017 and further in February 2018, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik ordered a probe by Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the supervision of the court.
Despite all this, justice for the family members is still elusive.
"There are differences in the forensic reports and identities of the accused are yet to be ascertained. The accused are still at large after so many investigations, therefore I am also not able to understand the probe process," said BJP leader Jayaram Pangi.
"Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will conduct a SIT probe under the supervision of the High Court and has also ordered for a judicial enquiry, which has been initiated. Even if the victim is not among us, she will definitely get justice," said BJD spokesperson, Rabi Narayan Nanda.
