BHUBANESWAR : Leader of Opposition and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday came down heavily on the BJP government in the state for failure to create confidence in the system among women and make them feel safe, valued and heard.
In a post on X, a day after the death a 13-year-old girl by self-immolation at Phiringimal village of Bargarh district, Naveen said there is a “heartbreaking” pattern in the way girls are dousing themselves with inflammables to take their lives.
Stating that four young girls have lost their lives in similar circumstances within a month, the BJD president said in each of these incidents, the pain became so unbearable for the girl that she saw no other way out than end her life.
“These four deaths are not the only incidents, there are many such girls who are dying in the most tragic way after being subjected to crime every day,” he added. The desperation of the women who have died reflects the failure of the system to address their grievances, he said and added the silence and inaction of the BJP government has made the women of Odisha vulnerable.
Addressing a media conference later, BJD MLA Dhruba Charan Sahu and spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said that the alleged gang-rape of a 15- year-old girl in Rajnagar area of Kendrapara district has again exposed the failure of the police.
This is the second incident in Kendrapara district after Pattamundai, where a girl had also resorted to self-immolation. They demanded that the chief minister who holds the Home portfolio should take urgent action to bring the situation under control.