Just a week ago, a 15-year-old girl, sexually assaulted multiple times over the past three months by a youth from the neighbourhood, was tied to a pole and thrashed to be made an example of. Reason: her father went to report the matter to the police after the local sarpanch refused to intervene. This happened in Odisha’s Nayagarh, a district that continues to grab headlines for atrocities against women and children. In 2020, a minor girl’s rape and murder snowballed into a huge controversy when the police sat on the case and did not even preserve crucial forensic evidence.
Only after the victim’s parents attempted self-immolation before the state Assembly did the government wake up from its slumber and constituted a special investigation team. The district, on its part, has a dubious distinction of female foeticide and similar crimes. It has elected some influential politicians and ministers of the BJD government. Yet, nothing seems to cut ice. A couple of days ago, a Class 10 student of Sundargarh district died by suicide following sexual exploitation by the headmaster.
In Odisha, crimes against women and girls are upwardly mobile. By the government’s own admission in the recently-concluded Assembly session, the state reported an 11% spike in rape cases registered in 2021. Between 2018 and 2021, the jump is as high as 32%. The National Crime Records Bureau report suggests that Odisha is among the top states in this category. Plus, there has been a spurt in cyber-crimes against women as well. Sexual offences against children are also on the rise.
All this reflects very poorly, primarily on the Odisha police as there is scant fear of law and the enforcement agency, which has become systematically weak and is caught on the wrong foot time and again. This must alarm the Naveen Patnaik government, which espouses the cause of women empowerment. After panchayat polls, the BJD government bragged about giving over 70% zilla parishad president posts to women. All the rhetoric of higher representation of women in legislature would mean nothing if it did not translate into change on the ground in the safety and security of women and children in Odisha.
