Outmanoeuvred by the State BJP’s dwan to dusk hartal over the death of Kendrapara burn victim, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Saturday sought the intervention of Governor SC Jamir for dismissal of the State Government for the growing crime against women.
The OPCC, which had announced civil disobedience agitation on August 20 demanding resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Health Minister Damodar Rout over the issue, submitted a memorandum to the Governor drawing his attention to the growing incidents of rape and murder of Dalit girls.
“Crime against women, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities and even children is on the rise,” the memorandum stated and added that in most of the cases, the authorities try to suppress the incidents.
Such incidents mostly happen in tribal villages where the majority of victims are women belonging to SC and ST communities, it said.
Alleging that the crime rate against women in Odisha is much higher than the national average, the memorandum alleged that the registration of FIRs is very small and the low conviction rate makes a mockery of the trial.
The fast track courts announced by the Chief Minister to take up women related cases remains a non-starter, it said.
The memorandum also criticised the Health Minister for his statement that the burn victim died due to the noise made by the protestors near the ICU of the Capital Hospital here.
“In view of the above circumstances, the Congress urges the Governor to review the deteriorating law and order situation in the State and dismiss the Government for its failure in upholding the law of the land,” it said.
The Congress delegation led by OPCC president Jaydev Jena included Union Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Srikant Jena, former ministers Kishore Chandra Patel, Jagannath Patnaik, Prasad Harichandan, Harihar Karan, Ramkrushna Patnaik and other senior leaders.