Bhubaneswar: Lok Sabha member Aparajita Sarangi on Friday expressed concern over instances of political violence in Odisha and apprehended that the State may witness West Bengal like scenario in coming days.
In a letter to Odisha DGP, the Bhubaneswar MP said the instances of political violence, especially against Bharatiya Janata Party workers have seen upward trend in the last few years. She listed out 15 murder cases of BJP workers in the recent past.
The parliamentarian also drew the attention of the top cop towards increasing crime rate in Odisha and disproportionately low conviction rate.
"The gruesome killing of Kulamani Baral and Divyasing Baral are unfortunate additions to the list provided here by me. In all the above murders, either the culprits have not been nabbed or have got bail because of poor investigation," Sarangi alleged.
Citing the NCRB reports of 2018 and 2019, Sarangi further said that, "The report qualifies my submission regarding the crime rate and dismal conviction rate. Odisha fared worst among the states with an abysmal conviction rate (5.7%) in 2018 as per NCRB report. The latest NCRB report 2019 has placed Odisha at second position among the states to have witnessed the highest number of women molestation cases."
"According to NCRB 2019, Odisha stands as the worst state as far as child pornography is concerned. Besides, cyber crime has increased by nearly 76% in the state in 2019 as compared to 2018 as per NCRB 2019," the letter mentioned.
Signing off the letter she urged the DGP to share the status report of all the 17 killings as early as possible.
(Edited By Ramakanta Biswas)