LIVE TV
Odisha
Recommended Stories
Bhubaneswar: It's no more Phoolan Devi's UP or dreaded Gabbar Singh Gujjar or Gabbar Singh's (on whose life film Sholay has been made) MP, but Odisha and Maharashtra have emerged as the hunting ground for dacoits in country.
As per the NCRB report 2018, Odisha with 480 incidences of dacoities finished second after Maharashtra in the country. The distressing trend is dacoities are on the rise in Odisha. The State had recorded 379 dacoities in 2015. The number had risen to 480 in 2018.
And the brunt of rise in dacoities was borne by mostly commercial establishments, commuters on highway and even residents.
While nearly 40 per cent of targets were commercial establishments ranging from banks to big shops, commuters on highways are the second most targets of bandits in Odisha and are followed by residents, reveals the data available with State Crime Branch.
The big dampening fact to the fore is Odisha saw a property loss to the tune of a massive Rs 119 crore. But the recovery by State police stood at mere 28 per cent vis-a-vis the average national recovery rate of 42 per cent.
While the recovery rate nationally had inched upward to touch 42 per cent of property stolen vis-a-vis 20 per cent in 2016, the recovery value proportion for Odisha remained stagnant and hovered around 28 per cent between 2016 and 2018.
When the lands of Phoolan Devi (UP) and dreaded Gujjar gangs (MP) have recorded dacoities in the range of 90 and 150 in 2018, how Odisha has become a hunting ground for dacoits?
Significantly, Maharashtra provides the clue. It has been observed that Maharashtra has the most sophisticated and well entrenched organised gangs in country. And, incidentally, Maharashtra has been recording highest dacoity cases in the country since long.
The rising incidences of dacoities in Odisha, therefore, very well hints at the proliferation and entrenchment of organised gangs in Odisha. At the same time, the rising dacoities in Odisha also point towards presence of 'protectors' of such organised criminal gangs.
In the given context, does Odisha needs a special law on organised crime and gangsters on the lines of UP , MP and Maharashtra?
Because, country's police history shows governments of UP and MP had brought in many special laws over the years to break the spine of the vicious cycle of banditry in the parts of the states.
