BHUBANESWAR: As the State Government failed to nab the culprits behind Kunduli gang-rape even after nearly a month of the incident, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Sunday demanded a judicial probe into the matter.
A delegation of the OPCC, including State president Prasad Harichandan and senior leaders, met Governor SC Jamir at the Raj Bhavan here to apprise him about the incident which the leaders alleged is being suppressed by the State Government.
Criticising Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the failure of the police to arrest the culprits, Harichandan said he should hand over the home portfolio to some other minister. Alleging that the victim has not received adequate medical treatment, the Congress leaders demanded that she should immediately be admitted to a top private hospital in the Capital.
The victim attempted to commit suicide due to torture by police, Harichandan said and added that her relatives were also harassed to admit their involvement in the case. The memorandum also referred to the allegation made by the chairman of the BJD Scheduled Caste Cell and former Rajya Sabha member Bishnu Charan Das about the possible involvement of SOG jawans in the incident which he denied later on.
Meanwhile, former MP Pradip Majhi said the Congress will stage a dharna soon to demand immediate arrest of the culprits and meet President Ram Nath Kovind over the matter. “The culprits must be immediately tracked down and arrested which the State Government avoided doing,” Majhi said.
The memorandum demanded that the report of the medical investigation of the victim should be made public so that manipulation later by vested interests can be avoided. As the family of the rape victim is languishing in poverty, the elder brother of the victim should be provided employment by the Government, it said and added two acres of cultivable land and a house under PMAY should also be provided to them. Educational expenses of the victim should be provided by the Government, it said.
Former OPCC presidents Niranjan Patnaik, Jaydev Jena and Sarat Patnaik, former Rajya Sabha member Ramchandra Khuntia, party MLA Krushna Chandra Sagaria and former MLA Santosh Singh Saluja were part of the delegation.