BHUBANESWAR: Mounting pressure on the state government to act against the accused in the rape and murder of a tribal woman at Malkangiri and sexual abuse of a minor girl at Birmitrapur, the BJP on Tuesday demanded an independent inquiry into the incidents by special investigation teams.
In a scathing attack on the Government for increasing atrocities against tribal women, State BJP general secretary Prithiviraj Harichandan said law is not taking its course as perpetrators of the crime in both the cases are police.
Though the two incidents are fit cases to be proceeded under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the BJP leader said that provisions of the Act has not been enforced.
Suspecting motive of the police officers investigating the cases, he said the postmortem report of the Malkangiri victim is yet to be provided to the husband of the deceased even after nearly two months of the incident. This shows that the police is trying to protect the accused.
A delegation of the BJP met the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on June 24 demanding independent probe and compensation to the family of the deceased.
Another delegation comprising BJP MLA from Birmitrapur Shankar Oram, general secretaries Harichandan, Lekashree Samantsinghar and vice-president Pravati Parida met Director General of Police Abhay on Monday demanding prompt action against the culprits and protection to the two families.
“The BJP will take up the issue with the National Commission for Women and the Central Government as we have lost hope on the State police,” Harichandan said.
Meanwhile, a fact finding team of the party visited Birmitrapur in Sundargarh district to meet the tribal girl who was allegedly subjected to sexual abuse for months by police officials.