Bhubaneswar: Alleging rampant rise in crime against girls and women in the State, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today launched a fierce attack on the Odisha government and demanded a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged rape and murder of a woman in Koraput district.
BJP Mahila Morcha president Smruti Patnaik said, "A girl was raped and murdered in Koraput. It is the second Kunduli-like incident, but efforts are being made to hush up the matter. Both police and doctors are involved in the incident."
Police had arrested a few people in connection with the incident but they were later released. With the help of local police and doctors, the accused have managed to give it a colour of suicide, alleged Patnaik.
She further questioned whether taking birth in a Tribal family in Odisha is a crime or sin under Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's governance. "We demand a SIT probe into the incident. BJP will protest until the victim's family gets justice,” she added.
The BJP had also earlier attacked the State government over the alleged gang rape and murder of a woman in Malkangiri district.
Former BJP Mahila Morcha president, Prabhati Parida had alleged that since there was involvement of cops in the case, the police tried to influence the doctors.
“Not a single person has been arrested in the case so far. It has created suspicion in the minds of all that police are pressurising doctors to change their reports in a bid to give clean chit to the culprits,” she had alleged.
As per a written reply by Minister of State (Home), Dibya Shankar Mishra in Odisha Assembly in February, the State witnessed a 17.9 per cent rise in rape cases in 2019 by registering 2,950 cases as against 2,502 cases in 2018.
While replying to a question from ruling-BJD MLA, Umakanta Samantray, Mishra had said, the Capital city of Bhubaneswar witnessed a 22.2 per cent rise in rape cases with the urban police district registering 149 cases in 2019 as compared to 122 cases in 2018.
Among other districts of Odisha, a highest of 203 rape cases were registered in Mayurbhanj district while 166 and 128 cases were registered in Jajpur and Ganjam districts, respectively.
(Edited By Bikram Keshari Jena)
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