BHUBANESWAR: Increasing incidence of rape of minor girls once again rocked the Assembly with Leader of the Congress Legislature Party Narasingh Mishra seeking a direction from Speaker SN Patro to the state government to inform the House about the measures taken to curb child abuse and expedite such cases pending in different courts.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Mishra said data collected by the Supreme Court from all the States stated that 1,005 child rape cases were registered in Odisha in the first half of the year from January 1 to June 30.
Terming the figure as alarming, Mishra sought to know from the government about the status of these cases as the State has a dubious distinction of having low conviction rate.
“Taking suo motu cognizance of rising number of child rapes, the Supreme Court has issued notices to all States. I urge the Speaker to give suitable direction to the state government to inform the House on the apex court notice and measures taken thereafter,” Mishra said.
Referring to the data compiled by the Supreme Court registry on sexual crimes against children, Misha said while 24,212 FIRs were filed across the country from January 1 to June 30 this year, the number of registered cases reported from Odisha was 1,005.
It has been reported to the apex court that trials commenced in only 6,449 cases. The trial courts have decided only 911 cases which is about four per cent of the total cases registered.
Since Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is in charge of the Home department, he should inform the House about the status of the cases, rate of conviction and the measures taken by the Government for expeditious trial of the cases, Mishra said.
Attributing the low rate of conviction in all criminal cases to political appointments of lawyers, Mishra said the government needs to review the performance of public prosecutors.
It is matter of great surprise that many government advocates do not pay income tax. This clearly demonstrates that they are briefless, he said.