NCW to summon Home secy on alleged insult of member by DGP

Bhubaneswar: The National Commission for Women (NCW) will summon the Odisha Home secretary on the issue of alleged insult of its member Sushama Sahu by the Director General of Police (DGP) KB Singh.

Sources said the Commission's move is based on the complaint lodged by its member Sushama Sahu on the incident.

Briefing the media today, Sahu alleged the DGP KB Singh has insulted and misbehaved with her.

She said the barbarity of Odisha Police has reached its height. The police here is not safeguarding the security of the women. It is rather working as per its whims and caprice.

Citing the three instances of police atrocity in Sambalpur and one instance each in Nimapada and Angul, she said “The SP of Sambalpur thinks himself as the king of Chambal. On his direction, police arrested the women in the midnight during the celebration of Hanuman Jayanti, arrested some women who had illegal possession of ration cards. Besides, some women were arrested on the eve of the visit of the chief minister to the district. Similar incidents had also taken place in Angul district”.

The NCW member also came down heavily on Nimapara BJD MLA Samir Dash.

"The local MLA had forced the women to join his party. But as they refused, they were removed from the self-help groups (SHGs). Besides, the MLA also took a series of actions against them", she pointed out.

She said the Commission has taken strong exception to the high-handedness of the State Police and will summon the state Home secretary very soon for a detailed briefing on this issue.

“The Commission may summon the DGP if it is not satisfied with the clarification of the Home secretary,” she said.

According to sources, the DGP was reportedly was not present in office when Sahu reached there yesterday afternoon for a meeting that she said had been fixed five days ago. Nor did he depute any officer to meet her in his absence, the NCW member alleged.

Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress and the BJP today strongly condemned the police for not cooperating with the NCW member.

“If the NCW member is not safe in Odisha, you can pretty well imagine the plight of the women in rural areas. Besides, when a DGP has utter disregard for a NCW member, then how an IIC will receive complaints from the women and respect them,” BJP Mahila Morcha leader Pravati Parida told media persons here.

In her reaction, leader of Odisha Mahila Congress said since the chief minister does not have any respect for the women, why should the police give respect to them? The utter misconduct of the DGP towards the NCW member is a glaring instance. “All I can say that there is no one way to give justice to the women in this state,” she added.

Countering the allegation of the NCW member, the Nimapara MLA said may be she has come to Odisha to politicise the issue. “There is no relevance in her allegations about the atrocity on women. Moreover, her statements are not based on facts,” he maintained.