According to the data released by Behera, the State witnessed 2950 rape cases in 2019 followed by 2984 in 2020 before recording a steep rise in 2021 with 3327 cases. This year, Odisha has registered 868 rape cases so far.
Likewise, the skyrocketing figures of rape cases against minor girls are even more concerning. According to the official figures, as many as 5,584 minor girls were victims of rapes during the aforementioned period.
A total of 1635 girls were subjected to sexual assault in 2019 while 1664 such rape cases were reported in the year that followed. Similarly, 1871 and 432 rape cases were reported against minor girls in 2021 and 2022.
As per reports, the 17-year-old girl was returning home from a wedding feast when she was allegedly abducted and gang raped by 8-10 miscreants in Harpali Basti forests under Biramitrapur police limits of Sundergarh district on July 8. Not only this, the miscreants also recorded a video of the sexual assault and uploaded it on several social media platforms.
The matter came to fore on Monday after the family of the survivor lodged a police complaint finding that the video has been doing rounds on social media.
Briefing mediapersons, Sundergarh SP Saumya Mishra said, "The accused were hiding in the Harpali forest. So far, seven persons have been arrested on charges of raping the girl and making her video viral out of which three accused are minor. We have launched a manhunt to nab the three others who managed to escape in the forest. Further investigation is underway."
Sundergarh SP Saumya Mishra on arrest of seven persons in Biramitrapur gang rape case #MinorGirlRape #Odisha pic.twitter.com/C8CMVm5BOh
— OTV (@otvnews) July 24, 2019
A team of BJP workers led by party’s general secretary Lekhashree Samantsinghar staged protest at Master Canteen Chhak in Bhubaneswar today raising slogans against the State government over rising cases of minor girl rape and harassment against women.
“Rising incidents of rape have now become a part of the dark chapter of Odisha. Naveen babu should resign immediately,” said Samantsinghar.
“It is time for Naveen Babu to take stringent action against the accused and put strong security arrangements in place. If he doesn’t do that, he will face the ire of people,” said Congress’ Jatni MLA, Sura Routray.
Similarly, a 12-hour bandh was called by BJP in Angul protesting incidents of eyes being gouged out of dead bodies in hospitals and minor girl rape cases.
On the other hand, in the State Assembly today, Leader of Opposition (LoP), Pradipta Naik alleged that State government’s response on rape cases is unsatisfactory and police officials have become supporters of the ruling-BJD politicians.
“I suspect the girls are used in illegal flesh trade and boys in the human organ trade," alleged LoP, Pradipta Naik.
Earlier the Opposition parties staged a walkout in the Assembly protesting Minister Bikram Arukha's reply on the issue. During a discussion on adjournment motion on rising minor girl rape cases, Arukha informed the House that rape cases in the State declined in 2019.
“Till May 2019, 937 rape cases were registered while during the same period in 2018, 996 cases were registered. There was a decline of 5.9% in comparison to last year,” informed Arukha.
The Minister also said that action has been taken in Bhawanipatna and Angul minor girl rape cases.
Arukha also rejected Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra's allegation that only six persons are convicted for rape in a year, while seven women are raped in Odisha every day.
"The conviction rate in rape cases in 2018 was 18.35 per cent against 2017's figure of 16.92 per cent. Police have taken necessary action in cases involving sexual assault of minors," the minister told the House.
In response, Congress leader Narasingha Mishra said,” What is the meaning of saying that rape incidents have come down by 5.9 per cent in a year, when the Supreme Court clearly mentioned that 1,005 minor girls have been raped in Odisha between January and June this year?"
Post the Nirbhaya incident, the Centre had urged all the states, including Odisha, to create a sexual offender central database and upload the same on CCTNS so as to track and prevent repeat of the sexual crimes by a habitual offender.
Though Odisha has implemented the CCTNS completely since 2012, the big revelation is Odisha police is yet to prepare a comprehensive database of sexual offenders.
Significantly, the State police has created a central database on drug peddlers, arm licenses, senior citizens and, even, single women. But it has no such database on sexual offenders, when the State government faces a lot of flak for rising sexual crimes in the State over the years.
Another vital crime tracking factor missing in Odisha Police is, it has not created a central database on crimes that took place in villages.
"Police records show post arrest in a crime in a particular village, it has been observed that the offender moves out to a new location to carry out his modus operandi. A database could have alerted the police that a new criminal has checked in to their locality. And this would help the police in arresting the rising crime graph in State," explained a senior police official in Odisha Crime Branch.
The side-effect for lack of such databases is police data shows the rural crime load has increased over the years in the State. Nearly 80 per cent of violent IPC crimes are being reported from rural police stations, reveals the data.
How uploading sexual offenders database on CCTNS helps? A central database will prove a game-changer in arresting sexual crimes, if the sexual offenders are habitual offenders. And habitual offenders database will enable the whole police setup to track their movement and location.
Consider this. As per NCRB data (available upto 2016), since 2015, rapes or say any sexual crimes are committed by rogue elements in Odisha. This has been a completely new trend and Odisha tops the country in rapes by rank outsiders.
In tandem to the new trend, another revealing trend observed was rapes on minor girl children (below 18 years) have now increased to over 63 per cent from 28 per cent in 2013.
And police records show majority of offenders were history-sheeters or accomplices of local goons (dadas).
Therefore, a database on village crime details could help the entire State police set up to track the movement of local goons or history sheeters.
An analysis shows Madhya Pradesh has no sexual offenders' central database till date, and, coincidentally, the state tops the country in crime against women. Similar is the case of Bihar.
The matter came to the fore after the family members of the minor girl lodged a complaint at Borigumma Police Station on Thursday, said reports.
As per the complaint, a youth identified as Dambaru Muduli asked the girl to accompany her for sightseeing around the village but allegedly took her to a nearby forest and raped her.
Later, he dropped her home and threatened her not to reveal the incident to anyone. However when the girlfell sick, she opened up about the incident to her mother. Later she was rushed to Jepore Hospital for treatment.
"She told me that the accused (Muduli) took her with him and raped her," alleged the mother of the girl.
Police have initiated an investigation into the incident after registering an FIR. The accused on the other hand, is stated to be absconding after the case.
Replying to a query on women safety, MoS Divyashankar Mishra has reeled out such gory statistics. And as per the data, in the first six months (Jan - Jun) of the current calendar year, Odisha has seen registration of 1,149 rape cases. The minor rapes constituted a massive 604 cases or 52 per cent of the total rapes.
The statement further reveals that total number of minor rapes in 2018 were a high of 57 per cent of the total. And as per NCRB 2017 report, minor rapes in Odisha constituted a massive 62 per cent of the total rapes.
In contrast, NCRB data shows, total minor rapes in the year 2012 was a mere 13 per cent of total rape victims. By the year 2015, the number of rape victims below 18 years constituted a whopping 47 per cent of total rape victims in Odisha.
When rapes overall in State showed a rise of around 74 per cent during 2012 – 2018, rapes of girl child shows an elephantine growth of a shocking 645 per cent during the same period.
When child rapes in Odisha didn’t follow the urban-rural divide, is the lack of faster trial and poor conviction of perpetrators proving the major factor behind the high spurt? Statistics speak so.
As per data with State Home Department, the number of cases pending in 2012 was 543. It had grown to over 1,500 in 2015 and the number of rape cases pending for trial stood at over 3000.
Moreover, as per the information provided by MoS Mishra in State Assembly, in year 2018, when only 197 were convicted, 876 got acquitted. The conviction rate is mere 18 per cent. Interestingly, the conviction rate was 23 per cent in 2012.
So, when 82 per cent get acquittals, there is a little chance of the sexual offence cases in the State would ever post a dip.
The bottom line is for powers that be, it's high time to review the current approach. And significantly, when CM Naveen Patnaik recently in State Assembly has made an impassioned plea not to politicise crimes against women, the onus lies with the State government to revamp the state apparatus that deals with the entire gamut of woman safety.
Recently, replying to a query on women safety, MoS Divyashankar Mishra has reeled out gory statistics. The minister said in first six months (Jan – Jun) of current calendar year, Odisha saw registration of 1,149 rape cases. And minor rapes constituted a massive 604 or 52 per cent of total rapes. Only yesterday, a minor accused cops of gang raping her in the holy town of Puri.
In an era when fixing accountability is flavour of the season, time seems ripe to incorporate a 'Right to Safety' bill akin to much touted Right to Information (RTI) and Right to Education (RTE) bills. Because, a constitutional mandate can only pull out governments from their slumber.
Hard data shows how Odisha failed the Nirbhaya test, like the Telangana government.
Post 2012 barbarism, a fund on woman safety called 'Nirbhaya' was launched by Union government in 2013.
Under Nirbhaya Fund, Centre invited projects from States/UTs having features like direct impact on safety and security concerns of women, optimum use of existing infrastructure, innovative use of technology, no duplication of existing government schemes/ programmes, provision for real time intervention as far as possible and a defined monitoring mechanism.
While in a span of three years (2016-19), 59 project proposals submitted to Union Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry, Odisha could submit a single proposal - the ‘Safe City Project’ in Commissionerate Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack. For not submitting a detailed project report, Centre didn't release any fund for the project.
Under this project, in 2018-19, Centre released over Rs 633 crore for 8 cities in states like Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telengana, TN, UP, WB and Delhi.
It's the lack of an emergency response support system for women in distress that failed Nirbhaya, and has also failed 'Disha'.
The hurting fact is Nirbhaya Fund has a scheme called Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) in place to secure the distress hours.
While Telangana fared poor in implementing the scheme, Odisha fared worse. Centre released Rs 9.49 crore to Odisha in 2016-17. The State failed to utilise a single penny till date. The reason: Odisha is yet to implement it.
Moreover, the Centre has released an one-time grant of Rs 10.6 crore to Odisha under the scheme Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) in year 2016-17. Utilisation tiil date stands a big zero in Odisha. This hints at the fact that State is not providing compensation to the rape victims.
Also, when State is increasingly witnessing a spurt in cyber crime against women, especially uploading of obscene photos and making it viral in social media, the Centre under the scheme Cyber Crime Prevention against Women & Children (CCPWC) released Rs 2.62 crore to Odisha in 2016-17, but utilisation again is nil.
Odisha also received another Rs 9.99 crore for operationalisation of One Stop Centre scheme and Rs 1.92 crore for universalising the women helpline.
While State could utilise a meagre Rs 1.45 crore till date, the utilisation under women helpline stood at Rs 1.41 crore.
The result: When a total of 30 One Stop Centres have been sanctioned for Odisha, only 4 are functional.
What is the utility of One Stop Centres? It facilitates access to services like medical aid, police assistance, legal aid/case management, psycho-social counselling & temporary support services to women affected by violence.
The fallout is obvious. Conviction rate in crime against women is mere 7.4 per cent in Odisha – fifth lowest in country.
Members of BJP Mahila Morcha took out a rally in Bhubaneswar today and marched towards Odisha CM's official residence, Naveen Niwas. However, they were stopped by police near Airport Road and a scuffle broke out between saffron party activists and police. Following the fracas, police reportedly took several Mahila Morcha activists including its chief Pravati Parida into preventive custody.
Criticising both the police and the ruling-BJD, Parida said, "At a time when girls are being raped inside police quarters and by policemen, can't we even question the CM who is in-charge of the Home Department? The government has failed to give justice to the victims. On whose power and support, the protectors here have become predators?"
Odisha is turning into a dangerous place for girls and women. Even after 20 years of stable BJD government, CM Naveen has failed to ensure safety and security for women, alleged Parida. "There are allegations against 272 police stations that they are for not listening to women's complaints. Even the State government has failed to utilise the Nirbhaya Fund. We want to ask the CM why 'Khaki' is behind most of the crimes against women in Odisha," she added.
On the other hand, activists of NSUI, the students' wing of Congress, hurled tomatoes at the official residence of MoS (Home) Dibya Shankar Mishra in Bhubaneswar today demanding his resignation over the Puri gang rape case. They also threatened to hurl tomatoes at CM Naveen and his residence.
Earlier on Tuesday, Interim DGP Satyajit Mohanty had said that a case has been registered based on the statement of the girl and a charge-sheet will be filed as soon as possible to ensure speedy justice to the survivor.
Following a complaint by the family members of the survivor, Khandagiri Police has reportedly arrested the accused and is currently interrogating him.
As per reports, both the survivor and the accused used to be colleagues and work together as housekeeping staff in a hospital.
Meanwhile, the survivor has been admitted to a private hospital in the city.
More details awaited.
As per a report presented by the government in the House, 604 minor girls were raped in the last six months and a total of 1430 rape cases were registered in last year alone. The depressing figure is gradually leading to alarming proportions with a large number of cases going under the covers without any media attention.
If we take the latest numbers, as many as eight minor girls were allegedly raped in last two days in the state, which aptly describes the condition of women safety in Odisha.
With outrage over the Hyderabad gang rape and alleged Puri gang rape incidents already hogging the media limelight, an alleged rape of a six-year-old girl in Patapur police limits of Ganjam district has come as another shocker.
Sources said the accused, identified as Mrutyunjay Das lured the innocent girl to a temple and raped her. He was later arrested on the basis of an FIR lodged by the family members of the girl.
This is just a drop in the ocean. The list of rapes in the state is long, in fact very long. To mention a few in the last two days – a six year old minor girl was allegedly raped in Khallikote area of Ganjam district, a school student in Soro of Balasore, two girls from Rairangpur area in Mayurbhanj district, a five year old minor in Cuttack’s Khan Nagar and last but not the least, a minor residing in Chandrasekharpur area of Bhubaneswar was also allegedly raped.
Flagging concerns over the alarming rate of violence against women, a social activist, Rituparna Mohanty said, “A complete overhaul of government mechanism including the appointment of more judges is needed to provide timely justice to the victims.”
However, speaking to OTV, Diptesh Pattnaik, IG of North Eastern Range said, “We have created a time bound action plan, so that justice can immediately be given to the victims.”
Truly, senior police officer and 1986-batch IPS Abhay today takes charge as DGP of the State, when Odisha is staring at a crisis where crime against women is breaching a new normal every day. So, taking the guard at this juncture, will the new DGP Abhay bring 'Nirbhay' (fearlessness) for the women in the State?
The challenge before the new DGP is enormous, especially after the Disha case and the encounter in Hyderabad. Even, people cutting across gender divide in Odisha cheered the 'instant justice' model popped up by Hyderabad police.
Known as a meticulous capacity builder in police circles, and also an astute trainer, Abhay has to ramp up the capacity of the Odisha police to crack the crimogenic factors of violent crimes like rapes and murders.
Incidentally, Odisha is now agog with these two violent crime (rapes, murders) frames. And it is here where his tenure as chief of Odisha crime branch and special branch will come handy.
The crime statistics looks more daunting for the new DGP. In murders, Odisha's crime rate of around 3 since 2016 remains unchanged. Murders are on the rise. The year 2017 saw 1,276 murders, the numbers swelled to 1,378 in 2018. The graph maintains the momentum in 2019 as the first six months of the calendar year has witnessed nearly 720 murders in the State. In crime rate of murders, Odisha is now 5th in the country from 8th in 2016, which tells the whole tale.
Another bee in the bonnet is crime against women. The hard facts are overwhelming.
As per NCRB 2017 report, Odisha with a crime rate of 9.7 in rapes is 5th in the infamy list in the country. The rape graph seems to have maintained the momentum in 2019, where 1,149 rapes were registered in the first six months, and rapes of minor accounted for a whopping 52 per cent.
When it is well known that organised gangs in any society thrive on drugs, arms and human trafficking, the task at hand before the new DGP is to curb the rising rate of child kidnapping in Odisha. As per NCRB data, child kidnappings in the State has risen by 1041 per cent between 2012 and 2017.
As far as crimes against weaker sections are concerned, NCRB report revealed that Odisha has recorded fifth highest crimes against weaker sections in the country, but when it comes to conviction State is at the bottom.
The NCRB data shows the pendency rate in cases pertaining to crime against women at the police level in 2017 was around 33.6 per cent, which means in every 10 cases, investigation is pending in 3 cases.
Besides, when cases are put on trial, the conviction rate looks very abysmal. In crime against women, the conviction rate is 7.4 per cent, reveals NCRB data. As per a statement by Minister of State (Home) in State Assembly, the conviction rate in rape cases in 2019 has been 18 per cent.
Be it poor conviction or pendency, the blame lies at the door of Police, because, a professional investigation is known to be the winner in criminal trials.
While the police investigation into the allegations of the girl is underway, there are reports that flesh trade was going on in the hotel since long. A sex racket operator had reportedly hired the said girl for seven days from the neighbouring state and made her stay at the hotel. Besides, sources informed that the hotel manager and some other staff of the hotel were involved in the flesh trade.
Police are currently trying to find out the pimp, identified as Ibrahim, and his links with the hotel and also the real identity of the girl.
On being asked about the allegations levelled by the girl, the detained hotel staff refused to divulge anything stating that he is not aware of the incident.
Admitting about the flesh trade, another hotel staff said girls were being brought to the hotel room for customers.
As per the data available with the government, the State was a shocked spectator to at least 8 rapes and 4 murders a day even though it remained for much of the year under the curbs of lockdown and its after impact.
Minister of State for Home Affairs in Odisha, Dibya Shankar Mishra, while replying to a question in the State Assembly, has informed that the State reported a whopping 2984 rapes in 2020 which means that 8 women fell prey to the scourge of rapists every day.
As compared to 2019, the rate of crimes against women has considerably increased in the State in 2020. Even the recently released NCRB report also corroborates the fact saying how Odisha has earned the grim milestone of coming second in the list of States with maximum harassment cases against women.
Mishra's shocking statement has spurred the opposition parties to action who took no time to target the government over the deteriorating law and order situation in the State.
Chief Whip of the Opposition Party in the State Assembly, Mohan Majhi alleged that the law and order situation has now slipped from the control of the BJD government. The safety and security of people have become a major concern due to the inefficiency of the State government.
Senior Congress MLA Santosh Saluja also reiterated such claims and said that the government has failed to utilise the State Police while the Home Affairs is also not under its control.
However, government chief whip Pramila Mallick launched a counter attack against the Opposition. "They have a habit of creating an issue out of nothing so, their allegations are worthless. I urge them to discuss the matter with us," she said.
The Minister further informed that not only rapes, the State also witnessed 1470 murders this year which means 4 such cases a day. Most notably among the cases include the sensational Mahanga double murder, Nayagarh minor girl Pari’s murder case and others.
Meanwhile, cyber crimes have also witnessed a sharp spike this year. In Odisha, cyber crime related incidents surged by around 23.6 per cent between 2019 and 2020.
State Capital Bhubaneswar was probably the hardest hit due to the prowl of cyber criminals. In the space of just two months – January and February 2021, people lost over Rs 1 crore to cyber fraudsters. A total of Rs 2.5 crore has been duped by cyber criminals in the State during the same period.